if, in the deep recesses of his mind, Al Gore actually IS planning to run in 2008 . . .

[OneBlueSky]

then this is one hell of a campaign kick-off, no? . . .

[1620rock]

1. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[ThomWV]

2. At last a true WORLD LEADER!

And this is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.

[MissWaverly]

3. any dem than can pull in 6 billion people worldwide

Should be seriously considered as the "front runner" paging Dr. Dean.

[MonkeyFunk]

7. 6 billion?

That's almost the entire population of the planet. I doubt that many are watching.

And I doubt very many at all are watching to see Al Gore.

[MissWaverly]

12. latest estimate from MSNBC

estimates internet participation at 2 billion.

The series rolls west through Saturday, from Sydney to Tokyo, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Hamburg, London, Rio de Janeiro, New Jersey and Washington.

Organizers were predicting live broadcasts on cable television and the Internet could reach up to 2 billion people.

this is from MSNBC.com

[Frogger]

4. To my way of thinking,

if Al Gore is planning to run, he'd better get on with it soon, before Hillary is too far ahead, with too much money, and too many public commitments to stop. Maybe Fred Thompson can get away with being coy, but I don't think Al can.

[Vincardog]

5. I believe AL is going to wait for the last possible moment. If at that moment seems Hillary

is going to be shoved down our throats he will run.

If it seems that Edwards of (That unelectable) Kucinich has a chance Then AG will keep doing his good work for the planet.

[Frogger]

8. If he waits,

Hillary WILL be shoved down our throats. Of course, I'm not really sure that Al can win the general election. He's already lost once. (OK, don't flame me. I know all the arguments, but the fact remains it is Chimpy in the WH this moment, not AG).

A lot of people on DU think that public sentiment would be to give Al his chance to correct the mistake made when Bush became President. But I think public sentiment is more concerned with its own problems than with Al's.

All I'm saying here is that Al can't go into the race as a wronged victim, but will have to appeal to the populace on their concerns at the time of the campaign. It might well be that he can do so. There is no reason why he can't. But, and it is a big but in my opinion, he can't do it if he looks indecisive. He's already said he wouldn't be running. Fred Thompson now, also trying to play it coy, hasn't said that, or if he has, I missed it. He's beating up support just by holding off, working up 'draft Fred' sentiment. Is Al doing that?

And before he can win the general election, he has to win the primary. He doesn't want to let Hillary or Obama lap him. He'll never catch up. So I hope he moves soon, if he's going to.

[Vincardog]

9. The longer he waits the More air time he gets on the Corporate Controlled Media.

As soon as he declares he will be immediately lumped in the the other "Loony Left DemocRATS".

[Frogger]

10. Well, maybe.

There's benefits and drawbacks to any strategy. Still, if he doesn't announce soon, I have no hope of a Gore presidency.

[Vincardog]

Just be ready to write a check when he does announce. nt

[Horse with no Name]

11. You are naive to think that Gore can't come up with "all that money"

Because I guarantee you that he can.
The media can't REALLY dis him now--he is too popular, he is saving the earth, etc.
THE MEDIA WANTS HIM TO ANNOUNCE because then and only then can they eviscerate him.
Instead he is on the edge, picking up momentum.
Sorry but I think that is A LOT smarter than announcing when all these others did trying to get a jump on each other.

[undeterred]

6. I think he wants us all to write him in

- that way he doesn't have to raise all that money :shrug:

[JaneQPublic]

13. I'd be happy just to have a president whose mind actually HAS deep recesses

... rather than the current blank slate.

[blues90]

14. I can only say , if I were Gore

I would not run , he can and is doing more working outside the political arena and he has the control without restrictions of the government . He seems to have evolved past the political mindset or boundries .