Atlantic: "Gore and Obama speak regularly, every two weeks or so"

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801u/gore-obama-endorsement

Waiting for Gore
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It feels official: Barack Obama has momentum. He won a resounding victory in South Carolina. He just posted another astonishing fundraising total. Gallup reports that he’s pulled to within four points of Hillary Clinton. And Ted Kennedy’s endorsement Monday had the feel of history about it. Even conservatives swooned. Only one endorsement could be bigger—and if Al Gore is going to pull the trigger, you have to think he’ll do so in the next 72 hours.

Yes, yes, I know. Gore has said he won’t endorse. He’s happily retired from politics now, a senior statesman, a big-shot investor. He’s won an Oscar and a Nobel. The cause he crusaded for has become central to the public conversation in a way even he could never have imagined.

All of these are good reasons to stay out of the fray. But they’re equally good reasons to jump into it. What would be the risk? There’s no chance that his endorsement would be followed by an embarrassing Dean-like collapse; Obama has already notched wins. Climate change won’t suddenly disappear from the agenda if he loses. And nobody’s going to take away the golden statuette.

On the other hand, Obama is now close enough to a big win that Gore’s endorsement could easily put him over the top. Gore is beloved among Democratic primary voters. His staunch denials have been unusually effective in tamping down speculation that he’ll endorse, so an announcement would be earthshaking and guaranteed to dominate the airwaves until the February 5 primaries. Take Tennessee, Gore’s home state, which could wind up making the difference. Democratic polling there is somewhat sparse, especially that done after John Edwards’s withdrawal. But Tennessee looks to be a state in which Clinton currently holds a lead—that is, unless a certain favorite son were to endorse her opponent.

Gore has already seen one presidency (his own) slip away over a handful of votes. He must have pondered how it would feel to play kingmaker and shore up someone else’s path to the White House.

A well-connected Tennesseean told me two things today that got me thinking about this. The first is that Obama and Gore have been speaking regularly, about every two weeks or so. The second is that, despite this, and despite Tennessee’s primary on Tuesday, Obama has not visited the state since June. It may be simply that he does not plan on competing there. Or it may be that he’s been waiting for a special occasion.

[SoFlaJet]

1. Gore and Edwards

the two biggest fish out there that everybody is waiting on to make an endorsement-how important would a Gore endorsement of Obama be? Of course we'll hear all the Clinton supporters and surrogates sliming Gore and Edwards if they do-no surprise there though...Gore and Edwards will be condemned by NOW and called women-haters

[MADem]

2. The Atlantic might be engaging in wishful thinking. I think this analysis is more

'On The Money'--

But a Gore endorsement of Obama, however it played in the short term, would diminish the former vice president's stature as a statesman. In 2004, when Gore endorsed Dean, Bill Clinton stayed on the sidelines, playing the role of party elder statesman. Now that Clinton has shed his post-presidential gravitas to become just another political hack, Gore has an opening: He can be the guy that settles intramural spats instead of exacerbating them. He can be the Democratic Party's Official Grownup.

There is also the issue of loyalty. A number of former presidents and their vice presidents haven't been especially close during or after their terms. Dwight Eisenhower famously said that he could probably point to a notable achievement by his vice president, Richard Nixon -- if given a week to think about it. Lyndon Johnson's relationship with the Kennedys was always fraught, as was as his relationship with Hubert Humphrey.

Still, endorsing Hillary Clinton's opponent would be bad form for Gore. He would probably be just another senator (ask Chris Dodd or Joe Biden what that gets you in Iowa) if Clinton hadn't tapped him to be his running mate in 1992. Gore's endorsement of Obama would strike millions of Americans as a petulant, ungrateful act.

It wouldn't be the first time his alleged disdain for the Clintons got the best of him. Indeed, one reason he lost his bid to succeed Clinton in 2000 was that Monicagate and the impeachment saga left him unable to boast as much as he might have about his own administration's impressive record. He barely allowed Clinton to campaign much on his behalf.

Gore shouldn't compound that error by crossing the Clintons again. He may not have wielded as much power as Dick Cheney -- not even George Bush can claim that! -- but Gore was a respected and influential member of the Clinton team. To endorse the man running against his former commander-in-chief's spouse would help obscure this fact, suggesting he has far more concrete reasons for his sour grapes.

Of course, there are no fixed rules for any of this, since the Clintons' dynastic ambitions are so novel. In my view, the rule of thumb should be this: Vice presidents owe some deference to family members of the president who moved them into the Old Executive Office Building. Not all family members, mind you -- just immediate family and first cousins. And not full deference, mind you -- just enough not to endorse their opponents.

Gore doesn't need to endorse Obama to assert his independence or signal that he has issues with the Clintons. His neutrality in itself -- the fact that he is not on the campaign trail for Clinton -- speaks volumes. And having watched Bill Clinton recently diminish himself by engaging in the messiness of primary politics, Gore should capitalize on the opportunity to supplant his former boss as the party's titular head, hovering benevolently above the fray. That's how he can get the last laugh.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/stumped/2008/02/in_the_democratic_primary_wwagd.html

[Stuckinthebush]

3. Gore won't make an endorsement

He wouldn't want to ruin his chances of influencing either Obama or Clinton. His best bet is to stay neutral until the nomination is decided and then to push hard for that person to be elected president.