WP: Gore Leaves Door Ajar for 2008

Gore Leaves Door Ajar for 2008
By Chris Cillizza And Shailagh Murray
Sunday, January 7, 2007; Page A02


Al Gore, shown at the premiere of "An Inconvenient Truth," his documentary on global warming, hasn't entirely ruled out another presidential campaign. (By Vincent Yu -- Associated Press)

As the Democratic field for 2008 takes shape, one big remaining question is whether former vice president Al Gore -- winner of the popular vote in 2000, an almost-candidate in 2004 and now the public face of the movement to address global warming -- will be in it.

Over the past six years, Gore has become a heroic figure for the party's liberal left, thanks in large part to his early and steady opposition to the war in Iraq. And it's not just liberals who have taken to Gore. "An Inconvenient Truth," the film detailing Gore's lonely quest to raise awareness of climate change, is one of the most successful documentaries of all time and, as important, has transformed Gore's public image from cold to cool.

That renewed popularity has stoked speculation that Gore just may have another national race up his sleeve. "He's the Rocky Balboa of 2008," said Chris Lehane, a former Gore adviser.

But is Gore ready to enter the ring one more time? Don't count on it, say his closest advisers. "There are no secret meetings going on to plan the Gore campaign," said Carter Eskew, a longtime confidant of the former vice president.

But neither Eskew nor any of the small cadre of Gore's closest advisers would entirely rule out such a bid, leaving the same small but substantial amount of wiggle room that Gore himself has left in his public pronouncements....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/05/AR2007010502379.html

We are NOT only hoping but depending on Gore to run!

IMO

:kick: :patriot: :kick:

The wind's in his sails. It's due him, and the people who voted him in the first time who were robbed of that vote. I hope he wins.

I would work my ass off for President Gore.

Julie

on the political horizon with the intelligence and will to make the changes that our country so desperately needs. Our country has had it with, "the guy I'd like to have a beer with" and needs a person of remarkable intelligence to lead us out of this Republican quagmire we've been saddled with.

Re-elect President Gore.

Which is something we need to help bring other countries back to the table so we can talk with them. The current residents of the WH just do whatever they want without seeking alliances.

I think Gore, more than any other possible candidate, can help bring the rest of the world to the table to talk about what we need to do to save our planet and to focus on the other issues that we need to work on.

convinced he's even seriously thinking about a run but as far as I'm concerned, I'll vote for Gore in 2008 even if I have to write in his name.

especially if a grassroots effort is mounted to nominate him.

Gore is the quintessential Boy Scout, and I mean that in the most positive sense.

As the old typing exercise goes, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country."

If Gore gets the call, he will be on board.

go and sign the petition - and then read the messages from republicans there begging him to run!

http://www.draftgore.com/

Signed and Sent!

I think we need him DESPERATELY. WE need him. The whole WORLD needs him. The survival of our planet needs him.

The global warming issue is vital. I don't want to see it become a mere calling card for a presidential candidate. If Gore gets into the race, he could lose his new-found stature in a week, taking the global warming issue with him.

Gore would make a good president. But it seems to me that he has answered a "higher calling." I could see a Gore presidency after (and only after) the global warming issue is common sense to everyone.

Elect a president with broad support on a number of issues, including global warming. Spread the risk.

It is possible Gore would win now as he essentially did in 2000. But he might not, and then An Inconvenient Truth would be just a failed political vehicle instead of a credible world-wide call to action. I don't think An Inconvenient Truth would have had anything like the impact it has had were it not for Gore's loss and sacrifices.

Climate change should not be a signature political issue of a single person. Kerry made a signature issue of his service medals and look what happened: the Republicans (to their eternal disgrace) undermined the validity of medals. People coming back from Iraq with Purple Hearts have far less honor now, because Republicans made medals "questionable." I don't want to see the same thing happen to climate change as an issue.

I want to see all candidates take the climate change issue as their own. The issue doesn't belong to Gore. It belongs to everyone. Gore deserves gratitude at this point. Let's not spoil it.

Maybe Gore can be president later, once the world has embarked "full steam" in fighting and correcting climate change.

in May?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600877.html

The world can't wait until "later".

he wrote it as an American.

:eyes:

Some are always implying he has some sort of agenda for everything he does. He simply in my view loves his country, sees where it is heading, and wants to now use his experience and resources to do all he can from out here to lift it up. I do not believe he ONLY has political aspirations behind everything he does, and frankly, I find it redundant and insulting for people to keep intimating that.

agenda in everything everyone's trying to say.

NO ONE thinks he has political aspirations behind everything he does. Don't insult the good DUers on this site.

And did I state it was done HERE? Guilty conscience? Perhaps you also need to read more outside of this forum, because there are people who DO state that insinuation. His movie is CONSTANLTY tied to a political run as if that is the reason he made it, and as if had that movie not been made, he wouldn't even be talked about in regards to anything else he is doing. I also haven't seen one thread here discussing his new book coming out this May based on the topic or its merits, just that he can use it to run for "president." Prove otherwise. And doesn't this exact article even mention that 2008 speculation was started up because of the movie? Again, I know what I have read.

But I have read the insinuations on the Gore Support Center and algore.org and other progressive blogs like Daily Kos. Even to the point that they dream he will announce after accepting an Oscar he won't even be receiving, because it would go to the movie and the producers, not him. I've even read on one of those sites someone stating that if he didn't run this time he would be a "hasbeen" and that he has to lose weight. Real nice. Again, you need to diversify your reading and stop you childish responses. So unless you have something else to respond with beside a one liner, I'm done with you in this thread.

multi-taskers!

Or is this movie only a political springboard to you as well? And I don't call posting an opinion "bellyaching" just because it isnt yours. Defensive much? I asked a simple question. Since you support the man so much, what are you doing now to help him in in this cause?

Constantly telling us what you know is in Gore's mind sounds like you're stalking him.

But since you cannot answer the question you pull out the stalker question. Speaks volumes. Good bye.

:evilgrin:

And that it will take a few years to get the citizenry in this country to a point where they will DEMAND action on this crisis on a mass scale. Only then will we see real progress on this issue from the bottom up. I just wish petitions posted here asking for people to pledge to help him in this crisis now got as much attention as petitions calling on him to do all of the work. I think he knows that what is now happening to our world requires more than one business as usual political campaign that will take more of his time away from this work. He also stated on the Ellen DeGeneres show last month that he has fallen out of love with politics. I then don't see the point in constantly harrasssing him about this when the time could be spent working with him on this crisis now. No wonder he is barring the media from his environmental speech at St. Augustana College this month.

it would be great to see him in the field. :toast:

:patriot:

We need you Al, please run again!!!

And I believe Gore to be one such person.

before he swoops in? He can afford to wait as well given his stature.

I'm very much enthused at the thought of another opportunity to vote for Gore. He's by far got the entire package as a Presidential candidate.


:toast:

If you are going to run, you better start calling big contributors, and you better say that you are forming an exploratory committee.

I wish Gore would say he will run. Hillary will crap her pants, and the race for the nomination will be wide open. But unless Gore gives a direct signal that he is considering running, we are just wasting our time like those idiotic Christians that are awaiting the Second Coming. It ain't gonna happen!

back and there's enough support "behind scenes" and on internet to push him if he declares. And, he won't declare until things are clearer. He won't run until he thinks he has a chance (when the media has finished dishing the dirt and trashing the Dems who have declared.) :shrug: Just my humble opinion....

He's one guy who could step in late and still garner the nomination. ;-)

by the other candidates. It always boils down to money. Even if Gore were to pull a Howard Dean and rely on the internet to raise funds from thousands of small donors, he is lagging far behind. At this time in 2003, Dean's campaign was already well organized on the web.

I doubt Gore and Hillary will both run. If one runs I believe the other will not. I think the same is true with Kerry and Gore. I think one of these candidates will run, but only once the nomination can be won without a political bloodbath!

The Democratic nomination hasn't been such a political prize since 1996, but IMO...it will not be this wide open in 2008 as the fall election will be.

he just needs to know we are the wind beneath his wings and how hard that wind is going to blow to keep him soring. gore/clark my ideal ticket...k&r

I do not think he will be as stiff as he came across in 2000. He no longer has to answer to the DLC people. He would make a more formidable candidate. He would do better than Hillary could that's for sure.


John

we really need somebody like Gore to run

landslide

I have posted there a number of times and they are asking for volunteers to help get him going. In a few weeks when my job slows down I am going to try. I don't really think anyone running now will be good. They are all democrat lite...

Gore seems to be pretty hands down around here and for many good reasons.

P.S. Welcome to DU, Normvan :hi:

Besides, his environmental record speaks for itself. We'll need it to reverse this whole global warming mess we've gotten ourselves into.

won in 2000. I know this is a really radical idea, but what if we just let him take his rightful place. Can you Imagine all the money we would save. He didn't vote for this war. He cares about family. He is smart as all get out. He loves the environment. He can speak in complete sentences. Just a thought.

he may as well not run and be sullied. His reputation has grown....he doesn't need them to tear him down. If he reverts to "Southern gentelman Gore", forget it.

I really hope so.

Imagine that, someone you can sit and talk quietly with, about what's on your mind, what's wrong with this country, how we can fix it. Just sit on the bank and pass some time with somebody who really cares.

F*ck drinking a beer with bush. I want someone who listens.

And so will a lot of others.

Bake

edited for typo

in what Chris Lehane says. I have nothing against Gore running though should he decide to.

...just because he was cheated out of it in 2000. The travesty of 2000 has absolutely nothing to do with it. Gore deserves the office because of the man he has become since then.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3067213

if he's at all interested in a run he needs to get moving right (left?) quick.

Anyone who doesn't have at least the skeleton of a national organization (especially a fund raising organization) already in place is going to be left in the dust. The primaries begin in a year. That's not much time these days.

Needless to say, I would be thrilled.

vote for Gore again.

I still say that Al Gore is the most experienced and best qualified potential candidate for President of the US. He is a visionary and has been proved right so many times. Not just on the climate crisis but also on other issues like the invasion of Iraq, the PATRIOT Act and the ongoing abuses of executive power by the current Resident of the Whitehouse.

The latest odds at sportsbook.com show that after Hillary, Gore and McCain are currently considered to have the best chance of winning the next Presidential election.

Gore will be 60 in 2008. He is several years younger than McCain, Giuliani, Kerry and Clark. He is also 5 whole months younger than Hillary!

I look forward to reading his forthcoming book "The Assault on Reason" (due in May 2007).

Let's all find ways to help keep Gore's name in the frame for 2008!

In Gore We Trust :)
www.algore.com
www.algore.org
www.draftgore.com
www.draftgore2008.org
www.patriotsforgore.com