Perhaps to demonstrate once and for all that Democrats have not lost sight of the big themes for which they traditionally have stood, the Maine party this week did not appeal a Superior Court decision on whether independent Ralph Nader’s name would appear on the ballot. Instead, its chairwoman appealed to the state supreme court as an individual rather than party leader, neatly defining a distinction without a difference.

The dispute is over one of paperwork – whether a certification of unenrollment had to be attached to each of the Nader petitions. But the problem could have been any detail that lawyers felt would not get laughed out of court.

Of course Democrats don’t want Mr. Nader on the ballot. (They don’t want George Bush on the ballot either, but they’ve learned to live with it.) Mr. Nader will take some of their voters, weaken the resolve of the party’s left wing and distract from Sen. John Kerry’s attacks on the president.

Just as clearly, Republicans are pleased as can be with Mr. Nader’s presence, much as Democrats loved to see Ross Perot in ’92. His candidacy relieves the GOP of having to attract two or three more percentage points to win. This isn’t complicated politics, and it is no surprise that some Republicans are contributing money Mr. Nader’s campaign.

But here’s something that Democrats surely have thought of but have yet to fully consider: Of Nader supporters who, if he were not running, would vote for a Democrat, many are not choosing the major party now because they feel the party does not represent their interests. That is, they feel disenfranchised. It wouldn’t be too much to say that they feel let down.

Is there a better way to force these voters to forsake your party forever than to appeal the pants off the man they have turned to in this campaign? There was little to risk when Democrats early on tried to keep Mr. Nader off the ballot, but once Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky, a Democrat, announced the petitions for Mr. Nader were enough to put him there, that should have been the end of the protest.

After the court fights are over, do Democrats really expect Nader supporters to believe the party has their best interests in mind? As a party or an individual, the politics of this aren’t good.