It looks like my prediction that former Vice President Al Gore will ultimately be nominated by Democrats for president this year is moving closer to reality every day:
Plans for Al Gore to take the Democratic presidential nomination as the saviour of a bitterly divided party are being actively discussed by senior figures and aides to the former vice-president.
The bloody civil war between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has left many Democrats convinced that neither can deliver a knockout blow to the other and that both have been so damaged that they risk losing November’s election to the Republican nominee, John McCain.
Former Gore aides now believe he could emerge as a compromise candidate acceptable to both camps at the party’s convention in Denver during the last week of August.
Two former Gore campaign officials have told The Sunday Telegraph that a scenario first mapped out by members of Mr Gore’s inner circle last May now has a sporting chance of coming true.
Mr Gore, who was Bill Clinton’s vice-president and has since won a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar for his work on green issues, remains an influential figure eight years after he beat George W Bush in the popular vote but lost the White House after the Florida recount fiasco.
The opening has emerged because opinion polls show Mr McCain stretching his lead over both Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton, whose campaigns are engaged in a daily cycle of attacks, character assassination and mutual recriminations on religion, race and the economy.
Time to buy Gore on Intrade.
March 30th, 2008 at 10:32 am
I honestly don’t think Gore is capable of much damage in the GE. He’s moved farther left since 2000 and will leave a sour taste in supporters of both candidates mouths. At this point. Its going to be a real struggle for any dem to mobilize their base regardless.
March 30th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Gore might provide a compromise candidate, but does he really give them any better chance of beating McCain?
March 30th, 2008 at 10:49 am
I would rather face Hillary or Obama than Gore. I hope this does not come to pass.
March 30th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
As I have stated before: this will not happen. If the Democrat Party “compromises” in the first race between a white woman and a black man with a white man… It would not be pretty for them in the general. I also don’t understand why Gore is considered this perfect compromise/draft candidate. As has been stated, he has moved further left ever since his first run, and I think he has a negative balance of approval.
March 30th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I suggested at least a month ago that the more likely scenario is that Obama chooses Gore as VP and makes him Secretary of Energy as well to give him real duties on his top issue.
Another issue worthy of some attention is Clinton’s lastest argument for getting the nomination. At least three surrogates have come out this weekend and said that she is being “bullied because she is a girl.” I guess the conclusion is that having a vagina is now worth more than delegates. Talk about affirmative action! And if her response to being asked to drop out is to cry like a schoolgirl, how in the world can she stand up to Putin or Chavez?
March 30th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Not going to happen. And there’s not going to be a floor fight. Pelosi said last night that the nominee will be decided pre-convention.
“It will be much sooner, right after the public has voted,” Pelosi said. Superdelegate Bob Mulholland, a Democratic National Committee member, also expects that the nominee will be decided well before the party’s August convention in Denver. “People ought to just relax,” Mulholland said. “Whoever is ahead by 50 delegates or so, you’ll see the super delegates move that direction. It’ll just happen naturally.”
March 30th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Pablo – agree about Gore for Sec of Energy. I doubt he wants the VP slot, but who knows. Chuck Hagel had very nice things to say about Obama on the Charlie Rose show and Michael Bloomberg has had 2 high profile photo ops with Obama. Interesting to speculate.
March 30th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I’ve been somewhat afraid about the prospect of Gore; I think had he run, he would have been a stronger candidate then either Hillary and Obama. But, right now the Democratic Party is so absolutely awash in conflicting identity politics, that I’m not convinced even the Goracle can save the day. I mean, on the issues, as many have noted, Obama and Clinton are almost clones; Obama is slightly more liberal, but their aren’t huge disparities. Yet, their factions are utterly polarizing and it’s in no small part due to the idiotic obsession each group has with electing a member of their favorite disadvantaged set. Here’s a solution; maybe they can draft Condi.
March 30th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Having some experience with Democrats in my day to day life, I can assure you all that identity politics is far less important to the average voter than it is to the MSM. My African-American, staunchly Democrat friends love Al Gore; most are realists who doubt the ability of a black candidate to win the presidency even in 2008, and many say they wish Gore had run from the start so that they could run, as one of them recently put it, a southern white guy who supports their interests. Meanwhile, a lot of ornery old white ethnics (i.e., my relatives) who are supporting Hillary to stop Obama and McCain would actually prefer Gore to Hillary. Many of them don’t trust a woman to be CiC, and Gore brings back Clintonism without the Clintons. As such, I think Gore could make both sides happy, especially if it becomes the CW by August that neither Hillary nor Obama can win.
March 30th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Dave, it sounds to me like the folks you’re talking to are rather agnostic in their Gore preference. But I think you lack contact with Clinton and Obama supporters. I see no reason to believe that they will in any way accept a candidate chosen for them by the party hierarchy — and too many in the party hierarchy are indebted to Clinton or Obama much more deeply than they are to Gore.
I don’t see any loyal Gore base out there. Someone should go back and review the headlines after Gore won the Nobel. If I recall correctly, the Draft Gore MySpace or Facebook page logged just a couple thousand new friends rather than the predicted millions. All that fanfare in advance, and then the project faded away with a whimper.
March 30th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
This would be great to see!!
March 30th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Gore has gotten a bit crazier in the past eight years, and despite the attention he’s had in the media he certainly hasn’t had the type of vetting that will accompany any entrance into the race. If he does somehow pull off the nomination, and I need to say that I really don’t think that’ll happen, McCain would still be able to crush him in the general.
March 30th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
All I am going to say is that Gore has been losing weight recently.
March 30th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
McCain v. Gore: Luke Skywalker v. Mr. Spock.