Is Gore starting to make a move?

[FourScore]

In recent weeks, talk of the potential emergence of former Vice President Al Gore as a consensus candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for President has increased in volume...

SNIP

...But for the potential Gore scenario to snowball into reality several things probably have to happen. First, Gore needs to step up his public appearances on issues that seem unrelated to a bid for the Presidency.

Speaking out on “global warming” on TV certainly fits the bill. Weighing in on the need for Democrats to find a way to let the voters in Michigan and Florida have their “votes count” might be another.

He doesn’t need to engage in a full-fledged public relations blitz, he merely needs to step it up a notch with a few carefully planned appearances on the major Sunday morning talk shows in the weeks ahead.

Second, he needs some leading Democrats — who have no direct or even apparent connection to him — to increase the drumbeat of speculation about Gore being a compromise candidate for the Democrats. They must be careful, however, as premature talk of a Gore-Obama ticket might antagonize some of Obama’s supporters.

Concern over slighting Hillary is not as important, since many of her delegates lack deep devotion to her and many likely signed on because she appeared certain to win the nomination. Gore’s advocates also need to downplay the need for a quick resolution of the impasse between Clinton and Obama.

The longer this plays out, the better things look for Gore.

Finally, Gore needs one or two national polls to include him in the mix as a potential rival to John McCain. Several national polls have recently shown McCain beating either Clinton or Obama in November, which has caused Democrats to worry about not only their chances of taking the White House but whether or not they might lose their momentum in retaining or expanding their majorities in the U.S. House and Senate.

A national poll, or two, showing Gore faring well or even beating McCain in a head-to-head match-up would be just the prescription for a Gore campaign to start snowballing...

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=59366

[LWolf]

1. I sincerely hope so. n/t

[Deep13]

2. He hasn't exactly been standing still.

Yeah, he's moving, but not toward the presidency. I read somewhere that he had accumulated $300 million to start a pro-environment lobbying effort. If successful in his efforts, Gore will be looked at like the MLK of environmentalism in 50 years. As president his attention would be so divided and the bureaucracy would restrict him to the point where he couldn't get anything done. I think he's given up on elective politics as a kind of bad investment.

[FourScore]

4. That's well articulated and you might be right.

But I still think h can make the swiftest changes by filling the most powerful political position in the world.

But I must say, I may be wrong.

[griffi94]

3. it's just my opinion

but i believe gore running in november is about the only chance we have to win the whitehouse.
had any of the other repubs gotten the nomination the democrats would have had a walk. unfortunately the gop put up their most moderate looking candidate. one with years of experience, a reputation as a maverick willing to break with his party, and a war hero.
maybe edwards could have won as well, but i don't think either of the two remaining candidates can win in november, barring some public meltdown by mccain.
gore may be the best shot we have left.

[chixydix]

6. It just infuriates me that out of all the great Democrats we got stuck with 2 very mediocre people

neither of which can beat McCain without a BIG dose of luck.
:grr:

[Deep13]

7. I know it.

:-(

[pacalo]

16. The only consolation is that the Rethugs also scraped the bottom of their barrel for a candidate.

Running Gore against McSame would be just too easy, perhaps?

[chixydix]

18. Maybe the Powers that Be in -both- parties have secretly decided neither of them

wants to be handed the ball of shit left by Bushco. :shrug:

Ya know...let the OTHER guys win and & watch -them- try to clean up the mess...

[pacalo]

21. A mess so huge to clean up that one would think selecting the most seasoned candidate to run

would be the order of the day. No, they've decided that now is the (inopportune) time to put their hands on the pulse of the people by seeing if a woman or a man of color could win the presidency.

[chixydix]

26. I like your theory better. The theory, not the situation it explains!

:mad:

[donkeyotay]

32. True. Who wants to be holding the bag for bush's disasters?

Both parties seem to be running in reverse. I am amazed that people are still fighting it out to be the candidate. Whoever wins is in for a nightmare. Still, I think President Gore would be best, and I think holding that office is the only way he's going to get this country to stay focused on global warming.

[Andrea]

35. I think Gore may be thinking that way, too.

He said this in the Washington Post the other day:

"The simple algorithm is this: It's important to change the light bulbs, but it's much more important to change the laws," he said. "The options available to civilization worldwide to avert this terribly destructive pattern are beginning to slip away from us. The path for recovery runs right through Washington, D.C."

(emphasis mine)

[SammyWinstonJack]

24. I'll take "just too easy" .

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. Sucks doesn't it?

x(

[Lugnut]

33. I'm not sure I'd go so far

As to say that neither of them can beat McCain but I must agree that we're stuck with two mediocre candidates.

[Andrea]

36. I'd give them both a C- at best

Al would be the valedictorian, obviously.

(edited for dyslexic typing)

[splat]

5. The party can't have the "firsts" destroy each other and then revert to Gore

This would infuriate all the Hillary supporters and all the Obama supporters -- "We went through this for nothing?"

[zalinda]

8. And Gore WON the GE

Neither of the "firsts" have done that, and will probably not be able to do that. Do you want your candidate or do you want to do what's best for the country?

zalinda

[SammyWinstonJack]

25. You know the answer to that question. What's best for the country doesn't matter

or we wouldn't have been saddled with two candidates who can't even wrap up the Dem nomination let alone win the GE.

[FourScore]

9. They can if these two continue ruining the dems chances of winning in November. n/t

[dkf]

10. Too many other fires for the next President to put out.

Gore wants to concentrate on saving the world from global warming...not how to get out of Iraq or how to fix our financial system, or how to get us out of our mortgage mess, or how to contain outsourcing.

And he has the clout with any Dem President to get what he needs.

[FourScore]

11. The question is whether there will BE a dem President next term.

The two frontrunners are killing the possiblity of that.

[dkf]

17. I've been listening to John McCain and while he may be a good guy he is no mental whiz.

Sometimes he sounds like a boob.

I don't think that the country will go for another one of those again.

Frankly, we can't afford it.

[Florida22ndDistrict]

47. re: Too many other fires for the next President to put out.

You do realize a lot of the problems our country is facing are interconnected don't you? If you focus on sustainable energy sources that out compete oil, then the middle east no longer looks like a great place to occupy so as to watch over oil reserves. If you pump federal funding into alternative energy research and implementation as well as tax incentives for greening the nation, you create a lot of new jobs helping to alleviate outsourcing concerns. If we innovate solutions to help alleviate climate change then we have products to sell to the rest of the world which helps to slow our trade deficit. If energy sources become more localized (e.g. solar panels, wind/water turbines), you eliminate a need for some of the failing infrastructure in our nation. If we as a country are headed in the right direction and have the confidence of the world, then our financial systems flourish with foreign investment. New jobs create tax revenue and help consumer spending. If our country would get serious about the environment, we could benefit greatly, but I guess people just want “hope”.

[DFW]

12. Gore will not make a move for the nomination

The mountain will have to come to Mohammed, in this case.
The Clinton and Obama people will not have to say "we did
all this for nothing." On the contrary, they would have
deadlocked the party over the nomination of the first
woman or the first candidate of African ancestry with a
serious chance, either of which (my opinion only, so don't
get your blood pressure up) could have won the presidency.

That's not nothing, but if they insist on hopelessly
paralyzing the party's nomination process, then the party
has a right to ask an outside person. I, for one, would be
thrilled to know that Al Gore would accept the nomination
if asked, just as I would be highly disappointed to know
that he were making background noises to try and get it
handed to him. I think he's better than that. I truly
believe he will not seek it, and only accept it if begged
by a genuinely deadlocked party. I have stated this before:
I think there is only a sliver of a chance of that happening,
but IF it does, I would want Al Gore to be the man. I am very
confident that few things would terrify John McCain more, or
hurt our chances less.

[Andrea]

37. I agree with your take on it

He won't make a move, but I want him available when we need him to unify this party. He is the one that can definitely beat McCain,and beat him by enough that all the Rovian election theft tactics can't overcome his margin.

[susankh4]

13. Yes. Toward Sec'y of the Interior.

[lildreamer316]

28. He said he would not consider a cabinet post.

Larry King in May of 2007, if you want the link to the transcript I'd be glad to post.

[susankh4]

29. So.. what is he moving toward?

I think alot of "I won'ts" get tossed aorund during elections, BTW. In the end, folks tend to change their minds and do what they can for their causes.

That said.... if, by some miracle, we do see Al Gore running as president I would be elated!

[lildreamer316]

30. I have no idea..

I can only hope... ;)

No, seriously. I can see where he is coming from. It's all or nothing at this point. Don't get me wrong, he seems to love his country and wants to help it as best he can, but I think both his experience and his pride demand nothing less than the Presidency. Can't see as I blame him much.

[Andrea]

38. Here is what he said in December

"I haven't ruled out the idea of getting back into the political process at some point in the future. I don't expect to. But if I did get back, it would be as a candidate for president, not in any other position." (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0712/10/sitroom.... )

[FourScore]

14. And in an Ohio paper:

Pundits are wandering in wilderness of this presidential campaign
Thursday, April 3, 2008
BY WILLIAM CUNIONMultimedia

I am going to tell you in this column who will be the next president of the United States — and it's not Hillary Clinton, John McCain or Barack Obama. You should trust me, too. I have a Ph.D. in American government from a Big Ten school, I've been watching this election closely for more than two years, and journalists ask for my opinion all the time.

SNIP


The Democratic race will continue throughout the summer. Sen. Clinton will keep boasting of her victory over "uncommitted" in Michigan, and Sen. Obama will stop going to church. At a bitterly divided convention, party leaders will look for a widely admired figure to unite the fractured Democrats. Finding none, they turn to former Vice President Al Gore, who dramatically sets down his Nobel Prize and his Academy Award to accept the nomination on the second ballot, and then goes on to defeat Sen. McCain in November.

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=405969&Category=14&subCategoryID=

[undeterred]

15. If he's making a move, it better be on Tipper or global warming.

I can't handle any more Democratic infidelity this week.

[yodermon]

19. Why do people think this is a good Idea? Rank & File Dems would be PISSED

1) Talk about disenfranchising voters.. how can this article talk about Gore "Weighing in on the need for Democrats to find a way to let the voters in Michigan and Florida have their “votes count”" with a straight face, while in the same breath talk about Disenfranchising the entire Democratic Electorate Wholesale by anointing Gore the nominee??!!

2) How does Gore REALLY poll against McCain? Joe Sixpack who was leaning Obama will probably see Gore and say "aw, not this shit again" and sit out the election altogether. The media would pick right up where they left off on the "Gore's a liar" mantra, but now they have footage of him "ranting and raving" in speeches over the past 4-5 years.

I think Gore has transcended politics, and so much the better.

[BlooInBloo]

22. Because some of the weak-minded can't deal with a contested primary...

.... and are in desperate search for a God-as-healer-figure.

(Gore woulda been far and away my first choice too, btw. But contested primaries don't bother me much.)

[chixydix]

27. Well, conventions, where this shit was supposed to be resolved are passe'

nowadays, apparently. :grr:

[Voice for Peace]

Not going to happen.

He doesn't want to be in politics! I don't get why people keep second-guessing him about this.

[Voice for Peace]

20. Not going to happen.

He doesn't want to be in politics! I don't get why people keep second-guessing him about this.

[mmonk]

31. I don't think so.

I have been getting more emails from him lately though coincidentally.

[nashville_brook]

34. this is RIGHT WING BULLSHIT propaganda -- Steve Gill... do you have any idea who this is?

http://www.gillreport.com/dn_archive.php


this is like citing billo as a source and having it wind up on the greatest page for fucks sake.

[RestoreGore]

43. Maybe it's RIGHT WINGERS posting this crap here

He just launched a 300 million ad campaign to awaken people to climate change. Yet, how many posts have these same people pushing this crap posted here on that? I don't trust them for one minute.

[Andrea]

39. This will help keep him in the public eye:

Assault on Reason will be released in paperback on April 29th. Perfect time for another round of talk shows. I can't wait to see him on the Daily Show again.

[JackRiddler]

40. ain't happening...

Unless there is a convention deadlock and, basically, Obama endorses him (Clinton wouldn't) and climbs on the ticket with him.

Hiiiighly unlikely. And will probably lose to boot. Party cannot afford to have anyone who didn't get a single vote top the ticket. Millions of people will feel cheated and demobilized, after months and months of fighting for Obama or Clinton.

The only winning scenario for a Gore run is too ugly to contemplate. (It involves death.)

[rodbailey]

41. For anyone interested,

some of us DU'ers have started a Yahoo group to focus on our efforts to lobby super delegates for Gore if it looks like there is going to be a brokered convention. Please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DraftGore08/ and join us in this effort.

[RestoreGore]

44. yes, because this is SO much more important than supporting his efforts now

What garbage.

[malaise]

42. Run Al Run! n/t

[LSK]

45. Holy Denial Batman!!!!

Please see a doctor about that!!! After you read up on party rules and such.

:rofl:

[earth mom]

46. My fingers have been crossed about this for months now.

Please save us Al!