< From Nader's strategic standpoint, the votes for him were far from futile. Nader accomplished exactly what he wanted. After this election, it will be much harder for Democrats to take the far left for granted. Clinton ignored for 8 years the left's agenda thinking, "Who else can they vote for?" (As Bush Sr. did with the right.)
The agenda of many third-party candidates is not always to bring people to their party, but to force the major parties to adjust their agenda to compete with the third party's agenda. And you better believe the Democrats will be paying a lot more attention to "Nader people" in 2 and 4 years.