Washington ? Ralph Nader, whose campaign for president in 2000 arguably tilted several close states– and victory — to George W. Bush, is considering another run.

Running as the Green Party nominee, Nader won about 3 percent of the popular vote in 2000, including 97,000 votes in Florida. Democrat Al Gore lost the election when Bush defeated him in Florida by 537 votes and the Supreme Court halted a recount. Nader, who thrives on controversy, bristles at the “spoiler” label, saying it is “offensive and a violation of my civil liberties” to tell him not to run.

And there are growing signs that he will run again, from the creation of an exploratory committee this month to constant meetings with Green Party members and his longtime supporters across the country.

“I’ll decide next month,” Nader said in an interview Wednesday, pushing back his earlier promise to make a decision by year-end.

The veteran citizen-activist’s interest in running again in 2004 is generating new divisions among even his closest supporters, who are alarmed that he could cost the Democrats the election.

Ronnie Dugger, an activist and writer who campaigned for Nader in 1996 and 2000, says the overriding goal of the Left has to be defeating President Bush. “It’s quite clear that Nader was one of the determining factors in Bush stealing the election,” said Dugger, referring to the Florida outcome.

“I passionately believe Nader should not run. If he does, he reverses his position in history from positive to negative.”

Even Green Party activists are split on the question.

“There are a lot of Green Party activists who don’t want Ralph to run,” said David Cobb, a Green Party member in Northern California who is himself campaigning for the party’s presidential nomination. “Many voters, fairly or unfairly, view Nader as the cause of Bush’s election. The ‘spoiler’ charge will dog him throughout the election.”

Nader has been supporting the candidacy of Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, — “I tell Democrats to vote for him” — but does not think the Ohio congressman has caught on. And he believes that the other eight Democratic candidates are failing to sound a progressive message against corporate crime and for a reduced military.