Who Will Gore Endorse?

from David Roberts of Grist

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/1/10/12035/4350

The big question, according to Josh (Marshall of TPM), is who Al Gore will endorse. I've seen lots of speculation about this. My strong inclination is that Gore will not endorse anyone until the general, when he will endorse the Dem candidate. His endorsement of Dean has become something of a political joke among the chattering class, coming as it did just before Dean's implosion. He's got nothing to gain and much to lose from endorsing another losing candidate.

Right now Gore's a powerful force in civic society. He needs a good relationship with whoever's in the oval office. Why risk pissing off the winner with a primary endorsement?

Also, despite Gore's recent rise in stature and popularity, the fact is that he does not, contra some of the more fevered boosterism you see around, command all that much devoted support among Democrats. The likely effect of his endorsement would be ... very little. I can't really imagine whose mind it would change. It might give a candidate a one or two day bump in the news cycle, but that's about it. It's risk of downside with no upside for him or the candidate.

For what it's worth, it seems pretty obvious to me that he'd endorse Obama. But he has reached something of a detente with Hillary, and will need to be able to work with her should she win.

but thanks for playing David.

For what it's worth, you can't speak for Gore as you don't know anymore than the rest of us do. It's nothing more than wishful speculation on your part to say otherwise. Now if Obama is nominated it could be true as he would most likely endorse the nominee.

He wrote that, not me.

only after the convention. On the off chance (:evilgrin:) that Hillary wins it, he'll endorse her.

Maybe. Obama is courting him and has promised to make Environment/Energy one of his top priorities. It's a possibility and would likely only happen if Obama finds himself really in the need of a significant boost.

The main thing to note is there is no way in hell he'd endorse Hillary before the convention.