Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Consumer advocate Ralph Nader said he will run again for the U.S. presidency as an independent, a bid Democrats say will draw votes from their candidate.

``This country has more problems and injustices than it deserves,'' Nader said on NBC's ``Meet the Press.'' ``There's too much power and wealth in too few hands.''

Nader, 69, who founded the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, was the Green Party's presidential candidate in 2000 and won 2.7 percent of the vote nationally. He got about 97,000 votes in Florida out of 6 million cast, according to Federal Election Commission records. Republican George W. Bush won the presidency with the state's 25 electoral votes after the U.S. Supreme Court stopped a recount of ballots sought by Democrat Al Gore, who trailed the Republican by 537 votes.

Nader, the author in 1965 of ``Unsafe At Any Speed,'' which criticized the safety of U.S. automobiles, has campaigned in the past against corporate corruption and damage to the environment. He has complained that ``progressives'' have been shut out of the Democratic Party as it has become indistinguishable from the Republican Party.

``We can't afford to have Ralph Nader in the race,'' Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said in a Cable News Network interview Friday. ``He could pull away votes from the Democratic candidate, and I hope he doesn't run again.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Jim O'Connell at joconnell@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 22, 2004 11:09 EST