A Weekly Roundup of the Buzz From the Sunday Talk Shows

"If the Democrats can't landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, emerge in a different form," Nader said. "You think the American people are going to vote for a pro-war John McCain who almost gives an indication he's the candidate for perpetual war?"

Many Democrats still blame Nader for Al Gore's defeat in 2000, when the contest was decided by a razor-thin margin in Florida. Nader ran again in 2004 but had little impact on the race.

Nader announced his candidacy on NBC's "Meet the Press," as he did four years ago. He said he is running to draw attention to issues ignored by the major candidates in both parties, citing corporate crime, workers' rights, military spending and foreign policy.

"You take that framework of people feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized and disrespected," he said. "You go from Iraq to Palestine to Israel, from Enron to Wall Street, from Katrina to the bumbling of the Bush administration, to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts."

Nader credited Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), who leads the Democratic nomination race, with being "the first liberal evangelist in a long time." But Nader said Obama's "better instincts and knowledge have been censored" by the demands of the campaign.

"He's leaned, if anything, toward the pro-corporate side of policymaking," Nader said. The question is, he added, "Do you have the fortitude to stand up against the corporate powers . . . and get things done for the American people?"

Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, said he thinks Nader's run will help his party.

"I think it always would probably pull votes away from the Democrats, not the Republicans," Huckabee said on CNN's "Late Edition." "So naturally Republicans would welcome his entry into the race and hope that maybe a few more will join in."

But Obama said Saturday that he is not concerned about a Nader bid.

"I think the job of the Democratic Party is to be so compelling that a few percentage [points] of the vote going to another candidate is not going to make any difference," he said.

High Stakes for March 4: Surrogates for the Democratic presidential candidates agree that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) has to win March 4 primaries in Ohio and Texas to stay competitive in the race. They differ, however, on whether momentum is turning in her favor or whether it is continuing to lift Obama, who has won 11 consecutive primaries and caucuses.

"I think it's very challenging for her if she does not win both states," Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, an Obama supporter, said on "Fox News Sunday." "She's the leader in both states in the polling now, but what we see in the Obama campaign is really strong momentum in both Ohio and Texas."

"Those of us who are supporters of Senator Clinton believe and feel pretty positive about what's going to happen in Ohio and Texas. Our read is that she's doing well. She turns that momentum around if she does well there," said New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine. "If she doesn't, I think she'll have to review where she stands, and that's what the former president talked about this week."

Former president Bill Clinton told a crowd in Texas last week, "If you don't deliver for her, then I don't think she can be" the nominee.

By Zachary A. Goldfarb