While putting together a story about Mark and Ted Lerner‘s stunning, shock-the-world-y upset of Dan Snyder in City Paper’s 2008 Unsportsman of the Year competition, I called Ralph Nader.

Nader is more than just a three-time third place finisher in presidential races. He is also a longtime voice of reason in debates about publicly financed stadiums.

In other words, Nader hates them all, including Nationals Park, which DC taxpayers gifted to the Lerners.

Nader told me the questions about the Lerners reminded him of a meeting he had with Fred Hiatt, editorial page editor of the Washington Post.

Nader had asked for the pow-wow to complain about the lack of coverage DC’s paper of record had given his latest presidential run.

“I’m sitting with the Post’s editors, and I said, ‘Fred, why aren’t you covering my campaign? Your paper has given me two articles in seven months!'” Nader said, chuckling. “So Fred looks at me and says, ‘Ralph, it’s because you can’t win!’ So I said, ‘Then why are you covering the Nationals?'”

Hiatt’s response?

“Fred just smiled,” Nader says. “He knew I had him.”