Nader unveils new ad, vows to go for every vote

WASHINGTON - Ralph Nader showed off his second TV ad Tuesday as he faced mounting pressure from Democratic leaders to drop out of the presidential race and yield the field to Al Gore.

The Green Party nominee also looked for a lift from a televised town hall meeting in Minnesota with popular Gov. Jesse Ventura, an independent who plans to stay neutral but declared Tuesday that ''I would never vote for a Republican or a Democrat.''

Nader averages about 4 percent in national polls, but comes in higher in many of the half-dozen traditionally Democratic states considered tossups between Gore and Republican George W. Bush.

Along with a campaign stop in Michigan and the town hall meeting in Minnesota, where one poll shows him at 10 percent, Nader also planned to visit the fiercely contested state of Wisconsin and to campaign in California, where he has cut into Gore's lead.

The new 30-second TV spot, a parody like his first, is based on an ad by the employment Web site Monster.com. The black-and-white ad features a series of children matter-of-factly reciting dismal hopes for ''when I grow up,'' and asks voters if they ''want something better for yourself and the next generation.''

Nader's potential for taking votes away from Gore has prompted a vigorous campaign by Democrats who argue that voting for him will only help Bush win the election. In Seattle, Jesse Jackson urged voters Tuesday to make ''the politically mature'' decision and back Gore. Without even mentioning Nader's name, he told the crowd: ''Either Gore or Bush will be president. Let's make a president, not just make a point.''

Ventura denounced such warnings.

''Isn't that interesting? I heard the same thing,'' he said. ''I just am so pleased with the voters of Minnesota that they saw through that farce.''

Ventura predicted Gore will ultimately win Minnesota because the state historically has picked Democratic candidates.

''But then again, surprises happen. Nobody predicted that I would win,'' he said on NBC's ''Today.''

Calling himself a ''centrist,'' Ventura said he considers Nader too far left and Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan too far right, and that he would take a look at Natural Law Party candidate John Hagelin.

Ventura said his appearance with Nader at the University of Minnesota for ABC's ''Nightline'' shouldn't be seen as an endorsement.

''I'm there strictly to talk about third-party politics. I have no candidate, really,'' he said during an interview on Minnesota Public Radio.

Nader is being pressed to endorse Gore in swing states, but his campaign manager, Theresa Amato, dismissed the possibility: ''Absolutely not. We're going for every single vote across the country.''

She also disputed claims that Nader had promised not to campaign in states where he might hurt Gore.

''In fact, he made the opposite promise. When he started his candidacy, he said, 'I'm going to all 50 states.' And he has been to all 50, including Alaska and Hawaii,'' she said.

The ad will begin airing Thursday and ''run in up to 30 markets across the country,'' said Bill Hillsman, the Minneapolis-based adman who made both TV commercials and Nader's radio spots. He also created Ventura's ads.

Hillsman refused to disclose where the ads would run, only suggesting ''look at where we're campaigning.'' He said he didn't want to tip his hand to the much richer competition.

''They could put $3 million into a market, that's beer money to them, that's spillage,'' he said, adding later, ''They're trying to attack us in any way possible.''

Like his first television spot, which led to a lawsuit by Mastercard, the ad plays off a commercial. It features children speaking directly into the camera, one at a time:

''When I grow up I want the government to have the same problems it has today.

''I want to vote for the lesser of two evils.

''I want to be lied to.

''I want to be apathetic.

''I want tax breaks for the very rich. ...

''When I grow up I want politicians to ignore me.''

It ends with an announcer asking, ''Is this what you want from your government? Or do you want something better for yourself and the next generation?''

During a news conference, Hillsman also played a series of radio ads already on the air. One focuses on Nader's exclusion from the presidential debates, another stresses his accomplishments as a consumer advocate.