 After Nader turned down the offer, the corporation hired filmmaker Spike Lee.Ralph Nader's name appeared in the press as a potential candidate for president for the first time in 1971, when he was offered the opportunity to run as the presidential candidate for the New Party, a progressive split-off from the Democratic Party in 1972.Chief among his advocates was author Gore Vidal, who touted a 1972 Nader presidential campaign in a front-page article in "Esquire" magazine in 1971.