Time: Gore Wins The Nobel. But Will He Run?

[Hissyspit]

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1670838,00.html

Gore Wins the Nobel. But Will He Run?
Friday, Oct. 12, 2007 By ERIC POOLEY

For the past year, Al Gore has gone about his considerable business without showing much interest in running for president. While picking up an Oscar and an Emmy, publishing a very smart book and playing host at a global concert for the planet, he's never done more than tease the idea. And yet all that time, the leaders of the Draft Gore movement have been clinging to a single fervid dream: that Gore would win the Nobel Peace Prize and use it to catapult himself to an eleventh-hour bid for the presidency.

Now the Nobel Committee has done its part, awarding Gore the Peace Prize for being "probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted" to combat climate change, according to his citation. (The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was also a joint winner of the prize.) And so, after the obligatory spasms of celebration and the equally obligatory gnashing of Rush Limbaugh's teeth, will Americans finally get to enjoy one of the great spectacles in political history, as Gore's ultimate honor levitates him beyond his leading rival, Hillary Clinton, and into the Oval Office?

Nope.

Let me be clear. If Al Gore gets into the presidential race, I'll eat my copy of An Inconvenient Truth. (The paperback, not the DVD.) I've spent a good deal of time with Gore this year, while writing a TIME cover story about him. I think he's staying out of the race — and I think I know why. But before I get into that, let me offer a few thoughts about what's not keeping him on the sidelines. I don't think Gore is staying out because of all the logistical difficulties that running would entail. Sure, it would be challenging to staff up a national organization and build the county-by-county teams he'd need to compete in the early states. True, he has no shadow campaign lurking in the background and waiting to be deployed. But he could hire one, recruiting first-rate people from other campaigns as they fade; and he could enlist his vast army of grassroots followers as well as his Silicon Valley friends in a rainmaking operation mighty enough to compete against the fundraising prowess of Clinton and Barack Obama. So the logistics, though daunting, aren't what's keeping Gore out.

Nor do I believe that Hillary Clinton is keeping Gore from running. It's true that Gore's late-entry presidential calculus always required Hillary to stumble, and it's true she has not done so — to the contrary, she has extended her lead nationally, edged ahead in Iowa, and taken on an aura of invincibility that has brought the Democratic power structure into line behind her. One hundred and thirty-six thousand people may have signed Draft Gore petitions, but most Dems seem pleased with their current candidates — and especially with the frontrunner. To borrow a phrase from Barack Obama, the Clinton machine is fired up and ready to go, and Gore doesn't relish the idea of being caught beneath its wheels.

MORE

[The Count]

1. I donno how satisfied the voters are with the choices - it's not like they poll

this question - or even add Gore in the count....
But I doubt he'll run at this point - for whatever reasons.

[gateley]

2. Great article - thanks again, Hissyspit! nt

[Apollo11]

3. Al Gore is the best person for the job. Period.

But I can see it's now unlikely that he will decide to enter the primaries and seek the Democratic nomination for 2008. Still - there is always the "deadlocked Convention" scenario! ;-)

I guess right now Al Gore is busy working on his next book "The Path To Survival" - due in April 2008.

Al Gore won't actually be presented with his Nobel Prize until December 10th.

By then a lot of States' filing deadlines will already have passed.

IN GORE WE TRUST :patriot:
www.algore.com
www.liveearth.org
www.algore.org
www.draftgore.com
www.americaforgore.org

:kick:

[Apollo11]

4. Al Gore is the best person for the job. Period.

Dupe - self delete.

IN GORE WE TRUST :patriot:
www.algore.com
www.liveearth.org
www.algore.org
www.draftgore.com
www.americaforgore.org

:kick:

[TheDoorbellRang]

5. If Gore runs, it wouldn't be out of hubris

It would be the ultimate sacrifice on his part to throw himself into the presidential race, and it would be because of his love for Mother Earth and the American constitution.

[RestoreGore]

6. No, and this emergency is more important than a politicos speculation today

It is a call to action to US.

[necso]

7. Congratulations, Al. ... /nt