It looks as though Ralph Nader's name will once again appear on the Pennsylvania ballot in November's presidential election.

Nader submitted the necessary nomination papers and signatures Monday to run as an independent candidate -- not as the Green Party candidate, like he did in 1996 and 2000.

Running again seems like little more than a pride and ego issue for Nader. It's fairly obvious to most Americans, and surely to him as well, that he's not going to be able to beat both the Republican and Democratic candidates and win the presidential election.

He wants there to be a candidate who is not affiliated with either of the two major parties, which is perfectly legal, and he certainly has the right to run. It's just a question of what good it is doing.

A lot of Democrats blame Nader's candidacy in 2000 for Al Gore's loss to George Bush, because left-wing voters who would have chosen Gore over Bush instead cast their ballots for Nader.

This year, with Nader running, Democratic candidate John Kerry may lose some votes as well.

But the difference is that Bush has been sitting in the Oval Office for four years. Among Democrats and liberals, there has been a mass "anyone-but-Bush" attitude, and some Nader supporters may decide instead to vote for the lesser of two evils -- in their eyes, Kerry.

Either way, another major question about Nader's motives and efforts arose when he accepted money for his campaign from Republican organizations.

Those organizations want Nader to run in hopes that he will pull votes away from Kerry and thereby help Bush in the election. Those organizations stand for things that Nader doesn't come close to believing. Yet he's still willing to take and use their money.

Yes, running a presidential campaign is expensive, and Nader doesn't receive the government funding that the major party candidates do.

However, it still seems kind of hypocritical for him to expect voters to follow their true values and cast their ballot for an independent candidate who has little to no chance of winning, but then to turn around and take money from causes with which he doesn't agree.

Nader should give up on the presidency and set his sights just a little lower. He could easily run for Congress in a liberal state and have a good chance of winning. He could no doubt have a lot more influence from winning a seat in Congress than from losing the presidency again.

And maybe, if he gets his foot in the door, the U.S. political scene could become more open to a third-party or independent presidential candidate in the future.