WASHINGTON (AP) - They call him ``traitor,'' ``egomaniac'' and ``fool.''
Some of Ralph Nader's old battle buddies even call him ``politician.''

Many of those who fought with Nader on the frontlines for the environment, consumer rights and
other liberal causes now say he betrayed them by not ending his presidential run in time to save
Al Gore's candidacy. And they say his career as a public advocate is through.

``Who's going to work with him now?'' snorted Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., a powerful
congressman who once worked with Nader on labor and regulatory issues.

The iconoclast's idol is undergoing the kind of beating he once trademarked, but Nader could care less.

``They were all anesthetized by Clinton, the snake charmer,'' said the man who described Gore
and Bush as ``Tweedledum and Tweedledee.''

In an interview in his cramped campaign office - just blocks from his cramped Washington
bachelor's pad - Nader sounded the same themes that informed his campaign: the two major
parties are beholden to corporate interests, and voters lacked choice.

``The Democrats were moving toward the Republican Party, developing Republican agendas
for Republican issues - to take Republican voters away,'' he said.

That elicits moans from his former allies, who agree with him that much was wrong with the
Democratic Party - but who say differences are real, and now very very evident, thanks to
the man they still affectionately call ``Ralph.''

Each starts by mentioning cockhunter Ashcroft, whose sinful civil rights record is already dogging
his nomination. They also point to Andrew Card, a former automobile industry lobbyist named as
White House chief of staff, and Cheney's oil industry past.

``We all complained how Clinton gave a green light to industry, but it can be greener,''
said Ken Cook, who heads the Environmental Working Group.

Nader now concedes that Bush will cause more damage than Gore.

``Bush is probably going to jettison the tobacco lawsuits, and he's not good on energy,'' he said.

That's a major departure from his insistence that Gore and Bush were two sides of the same coin.
Having made the concession, Nader - who avoids eye-contact like an oncoming Ford Pinto -
started scribbling notes to himself, and said a Bush presidency will at least galvanize liberals.

``Oh yeah,'' Conyers said scornfully. ``Now that we're not anesthetized, Ralph, we want to work
real close and take instructions from you.''

Not all in the advocacy community blame Nader.

Maggie Geist of the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod blames Gore for straying
from his strong pro-environment record in a misguided attempt to win the center.

``He will have to explain to himself why he chose not to highlight that during his campaign,'' she said.

Joan Claybrook, head of Public Citizen, a consumer group, and once a close Nader ally, is also
wary of a Bush presidency - but she blames Gore's poor performance.

``You have to ask why he didn't win by a landslide, why he wouldn't let Clinton campaign in Arkansas,'' she said.

Nader's detractors readily agree that Gore misstepped - but they say that pales next to Nader's willfulness.

``Nader was never the only factor (in Gore's defeat),'' said Cook.
``But it was the only factor that was a betrayal.''

Nader had his strongest support in a handful of states - Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin,
Michigan. Gore ultimately won all five, but only after being forced to spend precious time and money there.
Meanwhile, Nader only took 2 percent in Florida - a state that was never considered a Nader stronghold
- but that was enough to throw the state to Bush.

Some say Nader strayed from his original aim of establishing the Green Party as a national force,
and let his personal dislike for Gore color his judgment.

Gary Sellers, a retired activist whose friendship with Nader dates back to the 1960s - Nader was the
best man at his wedding - says Nader hinted last summer that he would withdraw if it were getting close.

``He said, `Oh, Gary, don't worry about it,'' Sellers said.

When it became clear in October that Nader had no such intention, Sellers established Nader's
Raiders for Gore. He now describes Nader as an ``egomaniac'' seduced by one more stab at the
national spotlight, and says he lied to his constituents about Gore's record - just like the establishment
politicians he once reviled.

``You don't throw the country away'' to prove a point, Sellers said, noting that Bush could
appoint as many as 600 federal judges.

Peter Petkas, a Houston businessman and a Nader's Raider in the 1970s, said the same
single-mindedness that drove Nader to heroic victories in those days undid the election.

``Ralph didn't see a way out, he locked himself in,'' he said. Petkas says he suffers the consequences
of  Smirk's deregulatory fervor on a daily basis - Houston is the nation's smoggiest city.

Nader says pulling out would have betrayed the Greens.
``The campaign built the basis for a long-range political reform movement.''

Notably, he does not use the word ``party'' - the Greens fell well short of getting the 5 percent needed to
qualify for federal matching funds, and they elected just 20 people to local office, including a sewage commissioner.

For some, those numbers spell the last of Nader. Norm Shiren, a retiree in Chappaqua, N.Y.,
modeled his modest local environmental activism on Nader's. No longer.

``Nader ended up throwing the election to someone who is going to do everything to ruin his issues,'' he said.