It Won't Be Gore, Will It?
Here's the thing about a 6-week lull between nominating contests: political journalists, bloggers, and pundits need something to talk about. And in the Internet age, they need a lot to talk and speculate about, even if that something is spinning out endless "could be" scenarios. Enter Joe Klein, who wrote in a column for TIME, that Al Gore could be the unlikely savior for the Democrats come convention time if both Obama and Clinton have limped into Denver, too bloodied by the extended primary to be viable against John McCain. You really can't fault Klein for speculating, even he recognized the slim odds of such a scenario actually playing out. Or perhaps Klein was looking to make a few bucks on Intrade, and figured that priming the rumor mill would boost Gore's stock.
The threshold for the Gore scenario is that the Democratic contest actually continues to the convention. Only under such time pressure and duress would the Gore option be feasible. But despite Senator Clinton's vow to fight until Denver, her threat is a mostly empty one, obviously designed to bolster her candidacy and reassure her constituents in the short term. Party leaders have been voicing their concerns about a drawn-out fight and intimating for weeks that the contest will be over soon after the last primary voting. Yesterday, Politico reported that indeed, the Democratic party elite--think Pelosi, Reid, Dean (though probably not Gore)--has set the wheels in motion to ratify the nominee in June, almost two months before the convention. As far as team Clinton is concerned, the rationale for why June would be too early to select the nominee is that a resolution to the Florida and Michigan delegations may not have been reached--or at least not a resolution acceptable to Clinton. But you can bet that the same Democratic leaders preparing for the June solution are figuring Florida and Michigan into their plans.
Part of the Clinton rhetoric about her long-term strategy has centered on the idea of taking the Florida and Michigan issue to the Credentials Committee. But reports detailing the selection and working of the Credentials Committee have undermined the possibility that involving the Credentials Committee could realistically benefit Senator Clinton. Put simply, Clinton is unlikely to control a majority of the committee and thus will be unable to resolve Florida and Michigan in a way that will sufficiently tilt the delegate count in her favor. In the short term, the problem for Clinton is that the same party leaders working for a tidy June resolution will surely be cognizant of the weakness of her Credentials Committee argument, and know that there's no reason to delay the candidate ratification if nothing would change in Denver.
In effect, Gore's prospects are aligned with Clinton's. Unless the contest comes down to the convention, neither is likely to emerge the nominee. To the extent that Gore truly does want the presidency, he has every incentive to prolong the fight (the current Clinton strategy). And if you were looking for a hidden reason why Gore has not endorsed Obama, consider that his doing so would probably doom Gore's chances, a fact of which his aides are doubtlessly well aware. That is not to say that Gore will not eventually endorse Obama, particularly if a June coronation is all but assured. But the more likely it appears that the fight will continue to the convention, the more likely Gore will remain silent.
It's ironic that the Gore's chances are bound up with Clinton's, given that he would need her assistance in prolonging the race, since the most likely Gore-led ticket is Gore-Obama, not Gore-Clinton. All this Gore talk is not to suggest that he would purposefully muddy the waters in order to preserve his role as savior. Rather, it's just to highlight the longshot of reaching the convention without our nominee already chosen, which leaves no opportunity for Gore to maneuver to the head of the class. Given the wheels now in motion to wrap up the Democratic nomination ASAP, the race probably won't go to the convention and that means that it simply won't be Gore. Okay... it probably won't be Gore.
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It's a lovely dream - to be able to correct the terrible error of 2000. Smeared by the media, having his electiuon stolen by the scummiest members of the Supreme Court, proven right on climate change - Gore would be the natural uniter of this country in a very difficult time.
Sadly, it is a dream.
And this nation is hardly through being punished for the Bush presidency.
Whoever gets in is going to have to make choices - all of them bad.
From these comments it sounds as though the Bilderberg Plan to throw in Gore and Bloomberg as last minute "rescue" candidates is going to be a huge flop. Let's watch, shall we?
http://www
hahahahahahah the future Gore presidency?
I think it would be great if Al Gore became the Eli Manning of politics, but he really needs to get in the game.
Somebody needs to step up and talk about the REAL issues and maybe Al is the guy to do it. An insignificant pastor in some previously unknown church or whether someone was sniping Senator Clinton in Bosnia are simply overrated incidents promoted by the zealots at Fox News and on Wall Street fearing the end of the status-quo.
Not Duped by Bush
Gore getting the nomination he did not seek would not sit well with me.
Is the US a government for and by the people anymore? It is a shame that the Democratic National Committee has made such a mess of things. If they don't make some serious changes and corrections, I'm going to give up on them.
Gore or Clinton getting the nomination is the end of the DNC for me.
I wasn't a huge Al Fan while he was VP (thought the Wife idea of unbridled censorship was WAY over thetop) bu tthen Again throughout HillaBilly's Scandals who had time to even See Gore, let alone Hear him. Reminds me of the movie "DAVE' whenthe VP is sent to BFE because they needed him out of the Way. Al has Come a LONG Way Baby. He may turn out to be a Real Patriot and Humaitarian Like Carter has proven himself to be ( Victim of the Cheney & Gang tactic- Iran Contra, Underming your own gov't for Profit and Power- Treason). I'd love to see Al sit in theOval Office. He can handle Broad concepts and ideas and realizes their is a Brain Trust to get advice from- he has the ability to Learn. Unlike the last 4 Presidnets !!
Gore himself states that he has no intention of seeking the nomination
This assumes that Gore still wants the nomination, and I'm not convinced that he does. Why would he? Maybe some of his staffers would still like the idea, but he has the spotlight he wants without the hassle. I just don't see it.
Jay20 "remorse votes " are called Bush/Cheyney/McBomb corrections by Democrats, Independents, moderate Republicans. Even that Nader fool would vote a Gore/Obama ticket.
I like Gore but really... Have we already forgotten what a shoddy campaign he ran in 2000? Even with a booming economy and Clinton sporting a 65% approval rating, Gore's wooden campaign style and DLC-oriented policies allowed a bumbling idiot to sneak into the White House. Say what you want about the Supreme Court, Nader, etc., etc., but it shouldn't have been close.
Give Gore an appointment, ambassador, EPA secretary, anything! -- just please don't make us pin our hopes on Gore being able to connect with voters. We already have an eight year reminder of how successful he was in 2000.
sharkeyas overlooks what Al Gore has done since 2,000 and the fact that he WON the popular vote. Yes, the Supreme Court and Nader combined to rob him of the election. The public is well aware of all of these factors and he would win this time by a much larger vote. He is a known, experienced, and valued American. There would be little to contest between him and the 100 years war candidate who sings the bomb, bomb, bomb song.
I'd like to believe that the public is more aware now than in 2000, but given how this primary season has devolved into a referendum on which candidate's adviser said what, whose pastor said what, and which candidate exaggerated a story about a trip that took place in 1996, I'm highly suspect.
I can't argue with you that Gore has done great things since 2000; I would argue that average Americans (who is much, much different than your average Democratic loyalist) appreciate Gore's significant contributions on issues climate change as much as they should -- especially in the face of our current economic meltdown.
And while he did win the popular vote in 2000, I think my point still stands: He did lose (fairly or unfairly), and it should not have been a close election given the state of politics in 2000.
Give me the Democrat who wins the most delegates in the 2008 primaries and caucuses, not some "savior" who couldn't win his own home state in 2000.
All this nattering about a Gore nomination is just the pundits setting their mouths in motion with nothing intelligent to say. He would have been a great president but he has " fallen out of love with politics" and I don't blame him.
The news media is peopled with biased morons who promote those candidates who they'd most like to have a beer with. Ergo McCain and Obama are the remaining two front runners - the two least qualified in the panoply of candidates that started the race. Hillary is fighting to stay in the race. Hillary has gotten the Gore treatment in spades.
I too have fallen out of love with the American version of democratic elections. The media makes it virtually impossible for the best person to win.
What you said!!! The media needs a high colonic!!!
here, here, you have hit the nail on the head.
"the least two qualified in the panoply of candidates that started the race.
instinctively, anyone with an ounce of brains knows this and that is why the "gore" prospect just won't die.
we all know we can do better than what we have been forced to accept by the media
if you don't believe what the media is up to, just watch a tape of Morning Joe from Tuesday 04/01 to see the sickening display of blatant partisanship coming out of the mouth of "Mika'.
it's no wonder that the truly qualified candidates didn't stand a chance.
Mr. Gore isn't interested in taking a position as lowly as President of the U.S..
Mr. Gore knowingly markets lies (34 errors have been documented in Inconvenient Truth).
Why? For Dictator of the European Union?" It's common knowledge Europe will benefit economically with Gore's "environmental causes" destroying American resource production.
Using 300 million dollars to stop Americans from producing food, fuel and fiber, while a better use would be to help stay production acreage - in production.
Each acre taken out of food production ensures starvation of more children.
Environmentalists gave us the Spotted Owl to replace logging with horrific fires and pine bark beetles.
They took away DDT and gave millions of human deaths.
Our children cannot survive on a diet of lies.
While we may not agree on politics, religion and on, we do agree on food. We all eat!
Minute by minute -food and fiber producers are bombarded by actions designed to steal privately owned and and water?
Is there not one amongst us, who has the money, desire, passion, power and conscience to stand up and block this forthcoming destruction?
We sent Leslie Stahl a 28 page paper on polar bears (Scientific studies reveal they do NOT need listing.) and a 600 word op-ed by Lord Chistopher Monckton (Clarifies the fact that ice shelf calving is normal...n
Be that as it may, I don't think that Gore should get free ride no matter how much I like him. I would see this as deeply anti-democratic and unfair for Obama and for those who voted for him and those who donated $25 or $50 at a time. It is Obama's election and having anyone parachuting in the middle of it is downright racist, to say the least.
I agree with you, but depending on the circumstances at the time, if Obama has been weakened so much and the party is so divided that he can't win, this may be the best option. But I'd only be okay with it if Obama is his VP. And I think he could claim some legitimacy, since he was previously nominated and elected but never served.
This is pure nonsense. Nominating anyone but one of the two Senators would be beyond disaster. I brokered convention would be manna from heaven by comparison. Get real.
VBond, get real please....
1) Al Gore's climate change senario is not real. Ask anyone still digging out from this winter's snow. Ask the 2500 scientists who have disputed his attempt at scaring us. Artic Ice Melting, until next winter when it comes back as usual.
2) Issue? You mean selling carbon credits for big bucks, or heating/cooling his four mansions and fueling his SUVs and jets?
3) Yup, you're right. He got handed his head once, why go for more pain?
4) Yeah, he would tax the bejeezus out of us middle class while leaving Hollywood millionaires alone.
5) HE WOULD BE AN ACTOR LIKE HE IS NOW EVERY TIME HE GETS ON A STAGE OR IN FRONT OF A CAMERA SPOUTING HIS NONSENSE.
6) Resources as in my tax dollars given to China or India, the worlds two largest polluters? Meanwhile America is constrained?
7) Grasps is the right word. He grasps being the one to tell me how to live, while not hurting himself, while racking up all those travel miles in private jets and large SUVs.
8) Except Cheney is on the side of freedom for the individual. Gore wants us all under government control.
9) Just like his Bhudist Monk's campaign contributions?
10) Unstopable unless someone mentions anything like Gore's HISTORY and POLITICAL RANTS..."H
Conclusion:
Gore for the ash heap of history! Or worse, make him live like he is telling us we have to live.
You're right... it won't be Gore for President.
A few facts:
1. Al Gore's stewardship of the climate change challenge is unassailable.
2. For him, most of the duties and challenges of the Presidency would in fact be distractions from the critical role that he can play in this most important issue.
3. He probably has little interest in or patience with the political mudpit.
4. He probably has a great deal of interest in wielding the power of the U.S. government.
5. He would rather be a powerful actor, not just an advisor or advocate on climate change.
6. The governmental challenge of dealing with climate change is a highly cross-functional (meaning cross-Cabinet) activity, which will require massive reorganization and redeployment of resources.
7. He - perhaps more than anyone else - grasps the challenges and opportunities of governmental reorganization (this was one of his major VP responsibilities).
8. The way has been paved - by his own Vice-Presidency and, ironically and tragically, that of Dick Cheney - for unprecedented power in this Constitutional role.
9. Gore's motivations - as Vice President - would be above reproach.
10. Obama and Gore would be a completely unstoppable ticket, able to win by an historical margin: the necessary "governing majority" which Obama and Gore would be best positioned, motivated, and capable of maintaining and leading.
Conclusion:
Al Gore... for Vice President.
This is an excellent idea. But it takes a lot of courage to be vice president twice. I strongly doubt it.
vbond,
So far, within Inconvenient Truth 34 serious errors have been documented by sound, non-partisan scientists.
From this booklet of lies - treaties, policies and school teachings are breathlessly dished out.
Mr. Gore's aura of influence in destructive.
Those with charitable heart "uses their own so as not to bring injury to his/her neighbor."
We need to fear not climate change (Weather or not...it happens.), we need instead, to exercise good behavior so as not to harm others. Plain and simple.
No panic.
No scare.
No lies taught to children.
If we want to teach our children something that will really serve themselves and their community well, - teach them to obey traffic laws, and help decrease the 150 billion dollars spent, and save 42,000 human lives lost annually - in traffic accidents. This is attainable, true and necessary.
Lying is fast becoming the main reason for the grave eroding of the health of our culture...
We cannot afford to layer upon that - one more lier. God knows there's enough in that field already.
Additionally - Mr. Gore has his sights on Europe. He's not interested in America, with the exception of slapping it in the face big time.
Revenge never comes kindly.
If the D party's elite selects the nominee before the convention WHY have a convention at all? Since the will of the people NEVER has meant anything to these elites the whole primary/caucus system, "delegates," and such is nothing but a waste of time and money. Makes no difference anyway unless a compromise candidate is found since NEITHER of the two BOZO's in current contention would win the general election. So much for the "People's Party."
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