Democracy Corps pollster Stanley Greenberg is showing top Democratic officials in Boston that Ralph Nader could hurt Sen. John Kerry's chances in November in a fashion similar to how he undermined Al Gore in 2000. "Any Nader vote in a close state can hurt," he told one gathering this week. "Driving down the Nader vote is crucial." In the data he is showing officials, Greenberg finds that the current three-way race has Kerry at 48 percent, President Bush at 45 percent and Nader at 4 percent. He is encouraging the Kerry campaign to focus on the independent voters who Nader is also targeting. His data suggests that independents are leaning Democratic and are especially eager for a change in the direction of the country. "Independents are going to be an effective factor" in the election, he said. But, he warned, independents are still unclear where Kerry stands on the issues, a problem the Kerry campaign is trying to take care of with its mostly biographical convention week. "For the moment, they don't know where the Democrats stand," said Greenberg. "This is still a case to be made." Paul Bedard, U.S.News

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