Interesting scenario from a blogger at Huff Post. Tells Gore to run in FL and MI

[madfloridian]

Could this really be a feasible situation? Well, even if not, it really is an interesting article. And it is good to see someone else stand up for the DNC.

Memo to Gore: Enter the Michigan and Florida

The impressive petition drives and enthusiasm of the Draft Al Gore for president movement considered, I still don't think Al Gore wants to enter a knockdown drag-out campaign for the Democratic nomination. He's built too much credibility - maybe even an upcoming Nobel Prize - with his crusade to save the earth to risk sacrificing an entire movement on the altar of messy electoral politics.

But today Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden removed their names from the ballot in Michigan. They honorably chose to play by the rules already established to give voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina the first shots at vetting the candidates. Also today Hillary Clinton refused to do the same, and seeks to run virtually unopposed there. The opportunity thus arises for Gore to be a non-candidate on the ballot, selectively in Michigan on January 15, and maybe in Florida on January 29, in the name of fair play and decency in politics.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) had established, after a painstaking process in which Michigan and Florida committee members participated, that only four states could hold primaries or caucuses before February 5. They kept the symbolic roles of Iowa and New Hampshire as the first-in-the-nation caucus and primary, while also giving Latino and union voters in Nevada an early crack at the process, and black voters (the likely majority in South Carolina's Democratic primary) the same. Michigan and Florida are big states with expensive media markets that don't offer serious possibilities for retail campaigning. Senator Clinton enjoys the same early name-recognition driven lead in those states as she does in nationwide polls. Michigan and Florida party bosses, many of whom support Clinton, worried that Iowa and South Carolina in particular might derail the Inevitability Express. And so they cynically joined with Republican Party officials to hack the Democrats' democratic process.

I agree with much of his analysis, disagree on part. I do like that he sees that there was a cooperative process with the Republicans in both states. It appeared to be well-coordinated.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean stood up to the cheaters and the party voted not to seat delegates from any state that tries to unilaterally impose a rules change on the rest of the country. Party leaders in the first four states extracted a pledge from each of the leading candidates not to campaign in Florida or Michigan (Clinton was the last candidate to sign the pledge, only after painted into that corner by her rivals; with this latest maneuver she reveals that her word means nothing at all). Rush Limbaugh gloats from his microphone, explaining to his listeners that this bizarre process is shaping up to create at least symbolic early "victories" for Clinton in the media with the aim of creating a bandwagon effect in those states that do have binding caucuses or primaries. His analysis is at least a little bit correct.

Again I agree on some, especially the part about Dean standing up even with the vitriol against him.

There is a lot more in the article, but this part really stood out.

Gore could help heal those wounds, and boost his own cause, too, by selectively allowing his name onto the ballot in just one or both of those states. Such a move could present a defining moment for the Democrats, a clean test of Clinton's "inevitability," and provide a protest vote.

All of that said, I am not anti-Hillary, and I don't post attack threads against her. I like this article and some of the ideas.

I think Karen Thurman can put him on the ballot here up until October 31. Correct me if I am wrong. And a lot of Floridians would feel some healing from those dark days.

[robinlynne]

1. Wouldn't that simply undermine Howard Dean?

[madfloridian]

2. Haven't thought it all out.

Just found the post interesting.

I guess I have a soft spot for Gore after what happened here in 2000.

I doubt he would do it anyway, not his style.