The Democrats need to finally drop their Nader sob story and move on — even if Nader, who just announced he's running again, hasn't.

Back in 2000, Buchanan ran for president under the Reform Party banner. A social conservative and trade protectionist, Buchanan was a dour version of today's lingering and likeable presidential wanna-be Mike Huckabee.

Buchanan collected 11,471 votes in Wisconsin in 2000. Presumably, most of his votes would have gone to Bush had he not been on the ballot.

Bush only lost Wisconsin by 5,708 votes. So without Buchanan in the race, Bush could have narrowly won here as well as in Oregon and New Mexico. That would have given him enough of a lead in the electoral college that Florida wouldn't have mattered.

My point is that the electoral map can be sliced and diced in many ways to justify or deflect what happened.

Yet the stark reality for Democrats is that Bush won in 2000 mostly because Gore ran a poor campaign that failed to inspire even his home state of Tennessee to support him.

Now Nader is running again, much to the Dems' dismay. If they were smart, Democrats would stop deriding Nader and let his waning spark extinguish on its own.

Nader collected 94,070 votes in Wisconsin in 2000. That fell to 16,390 votes in 2004. This year, assuming he gets on the ballot, Nader will garner fewer votes than Buchanan did.

Nader is a great American and consumer advocate. But he'd make an awful president. He can't even get along with his friends anymore. He sees a bogeyman behind every motive except his own.

Yet I understand Nader's drive to run again. Every time the Democrats tell him to butt out, that's another reason for him to jump back in.

As Nader told a Madison heckler in 2003: "Please, never tell a candidate not to speak."

Milfred is editorial page editor for the State Journal; smilfred@madison.com or 608-252-6110.