In a move reminiscent of the 2000 presidential election, Ralph Nader announced on Sunday that he will again run for president, only this time as an independent.

The announcement by Nader, the one-time Green Party presidential nominee who drew criticism from Democrats for tilting the last election toward the Republican party, is already sparking interest on campus.

Daniel DiMaggio ’04, an active member of the Harvard Socialist Alternative, said that he is in the process of forming Harvard Students For Nader.

“We’re planning our first meeting to be this Sunday,” said DiMaggio. “The plan is to organize some sort of kickoff event for March 9.”

The campaign is coordinating kickoffs for that day on over 100 campuses nation-wide.

Andy J. Frank ’05, president of the Harvard College Democrats, said that though students who support Nader may be “well-intentioned,” they would be throwing away their vote.

“If you vote for Nader you might as well vote for Bush,” he said.

Lauren K. Truesdell ’06, the spokesperson for the Harvard Republican Club, called Nader’s candidacy a welcome—if unecessary—development in the Republican race against the Democrats.

“We believe that we can beat any Democratic challenger with or without Nader, but this is an added bonus,” she said. “We don’t believe that any candidate will defeat Bush, but obviously John Kerry has more of a chance than Ralph Nader.”

Nader campaign spokesperson Linda Schade denied that the longtime consumer advocate would act as a “spoiler” in November.

“He’s looked at this. He wants to beat Bush, that’s his main objective,” she said.

“He will keep the Democrats true to their Democratic base.”

She said that Nader’s candidacy draws new voters who ultimately end up casting ballots for Democrats.

But Dan Glickman, the director of Harvard’s Institute of Politics, said he thought Nader is facing a much different race this time around and will have less of an effect on the election than he did in 2000.

“This time there’s more intensity and unity among Democrats to defeat Bush. He’ll get some votes but not as many as last time,” he said.