If Ralph Nader’s recent presidential campaigns provide any insight, it’s that no matter how righteous he is, he simply will not win. Ask any construction worker or political wonk, and he’ll tell you that Nader’s chances of winning are slimmer than slim and none. But don’t dare say that to Nader or his supporters. They’ll bite into you like you’re the last Not Dog at a backyard barbecue with a grill full of steak.

Indeed, in a radio message this weekend, the consumer rights watchdog said he thinks he’s got a decent chance to win:

I was at a breakfast meeting with reporters this week in Washington, D.C., and a reporter asked me if I thought Nader/Gonzalez had a chance to win. Well, I said, if we get into the debates, before tens of millions of voters, it would be a three way race.

As such, Nader’s campaign has opened an office at 1155 Sherman St., Suite 111, bringing some progressive smack-talking to Denver–most of it reserved for the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Barack Obama. On Wednesday, August 27, during the DNC, Nader will hold what his campaign calls a “Super Rally,” for as many as 7,000 people, at the University of Denver’s Magness Arena. Then, on September 4, Nader will hold a second similar rally at the Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis during the Republican National Convention. As Nader’s blog explains,

These rallies will be part of an massive outpouring of protest in Denver and Minneapolis against the two corporate controlled parties and their policies of perpetual militarism and war.

Also see this video. So Nader, who received 1 percent of Colorado’s vote in 2004, keeps trying and may, in the end, be a presidential candidate more often than my drinking buddy’s favorite write-in–Mickey Mouse. Nader has navigated his way onto ballots in 28 states, including Colorado, and is targeting 17 more. And if you take Nader’s campaign as seriously as he does, therein lies the main problem. For the math-challenged, Nader isn’t going to be on the ballot in all 50 states (to say nothing of the territories). And, you don’t have to be a genius to know that every state counts. Just ask Hillary Clinton or Al Gore about that one.