No more Gore in 2008?

January 16, 2007

Reuters ran an odd report late yesterday, telling readers that former Vice President Al Gore had told an audience in Japan that “he would not run in the next presidential race.” Reuters added that Gore was asked about his campaign plans, but “Gore ruled it out.”

It was odd for a few reasons. One, as recently as last week, Gore’s closest advisors still would not entirely rule out another presidential campaign. Two, if Gore were going to make such an announcement, he probably wouldn’t make it in Japan. And three, the Reuters article included no actual quotes from Gore, only paraphrases. If Gore “ruled out” a campaign, shouldn’t the article have included a quote to that effect?

For that matter, Bloomberg reported on the same event, and told readers, “Gore has said he hasn’t ruled out making another run for president, but he doesn’t ‘expect’ to launch a campaign.” That’s pretty different, isn’t it?

So, what’s the real story on Gore’s plans? The Boston Globe’s Scot Lehigh offered a far different take than Reuters.

“More and more people are asking, ‘What about Al Gore?’ ” says Steve Grossman, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. “If Al Gore were to announce for president, he would be a first-tier candidate on day one. Instead of it being Hillary and Obama on the covers of the national magazines, you would have three faces there.”

The Internet activists would turn cyberspace into a potent fund-raising realm for Gore if he does decide to get in, Grossman predicts.

Publicly, Gore hasn’t ruled out running, but neither has he evinced much interest. But when one friend asked him recently about another campaign, Gore didn’t dismiss the question out of hand. “We’ll see how things go,” he replied.

Wait, it gets more provocative.

The same Lehigh report added:

Another Democratic source says that in recent weeks, the former vice president’s camp has quietly put out feelers to presidential politicos, asking whether they are committed for 2008.

Now, that’s attributed to an unnamed source, who has reportedly talked to other unnamed sources. But still, if that’s accurate, isn’t it a fairly big deal?

The Internet activists would turn cyberspace into a potent fund-raising realm for Gore if he does decide to get in, Grossman predicts.

No kidding. I’d happily send him all the money I just “saved” by crossing Emily’s List from my list of donees. I suppose they had no choice but to support a woman but they’d have done better to have stayed out of it at least for now.

I do wish, however, that people would stop yanking my chain about Gore. One minute, it’s “maybe he’ll run” and I get very happy. Next minute, it’s “no he won’t” and its back to triangulating for me — who of the rest of the pack is best?

  • ml,

    is that an endorsement or a odd way of stating opposition to Gore? Of course, you are entitled to your position either way, I’m just curious.

  • I’d still like to see him at Interior or Agriculture—or maybe bring things together under him as “Environmental Czar”—with enough clout to bitch-slap Big Oil back into the Stone Age, and ramp-up a crash program on alternative energies….

  • I’d still like to see him at Interior or Agriculture—or maybe bring things together under him as “Environmental Czar”—

    Or better yet, on the Supreme Court as its increasingly likely that many of the critical issues related to Global Warming will eventually find there way there.

  • The making of a false flip flop controversy — “Hey, Gore was against running before he was for it!”

    If anyone has the cognitive abilities to get us out of our current messes, Gore’s the guy. And yes, I’d prefer to have a beer with him over ANY of the Repub candidates.

  • I like Gore. I like Edwards. I like Obama. But after this past election, I keep wondering – if the politicians aren’t going to listen to voters, why bother having elections?

  • If we are going to “select” candidates based on whether they can raise $100,000,000 dollars to make them serious candidates, why bother deluding ourselves with “democracy”? I we are going to “select” candidates based upon the hype they can generate in the media, why bother deluding ourselves with elections?

    The process so far does not give me confidence that the “best” candidates will even enter the primaries.

  • I have a die hard Republican friend who swears he’d vote for Gore in a heartbeat, if nothing else just to make up for his votes in 2000 and 2004. He also watched “an inconvienient truth”, so that’s a big part of it too.

    I suggest everyone buy a copy and loan it out, it’s very powerful.

  • Right now, I’m a Bill Richardson supporter, since he is the only potential candidate other than Gore who has the foreign policy experience necessary to get us out of the current mess we’re in. However, whenever I mention Richardson’s name to my fellow political junkies, someone always brings up the rumor that he regularly cheats on his wife with other women. I don’t know whether or not that’s true, and personally, I don’t care– it has nothing to do with the way someone governs, e.g. Bill Clinton– but unfortunately, a large swath of the public does make a fuss over that sort of thing. And if the rumor became a meme that spread all over the public discourse, that would be the end of Richardson’s presidential hopes. So, the way I see it, Al Gore is the only other candidate with the expertise and experience, AND he’s not a philanderer. So, while I still have a “Richardson for President” button on my backpack, I am hoping Gore will jump in.

  • The Caped Composer,

    … I’m a Bill Richardson supporter, since he is the only potential candidate other than Gore who has the foreign policy experience necessary to get us out of the current mess we’re in.

    I sincerely beg to differ. Clark has just as much foreign policy experience if not more. Especially given the nature of the “current mess we’re in”.

  • ***Or better yet, on the Supreme Court as its increasingly likely that many of the critical issues related to Global Warming will eventually find there way there.***
    ———-Edo

    No could do, Edo—he’d have to recuse himself. I thought about him going there, but the movie demonstrates bias in a specific direction….

  • No could do, Edo—he’d have to recuse himself. I thought about him going there, but the movie demonstrates bias in a specific direction….

    Ha! Who’d make him recuse himself? IIRC, there are several good examples where Scalia should have recused himself and didn’t. Nahh that’s not a showstopper.

  • I have been a Gore supporter for many years and will continue to be a Gore supporter. We need someone with intelligence in the White House.

    • Comments are closed.