DUPE

[kskiska]

Although Al Gore's impending endorsement of Howard Dean must be disturbing news for all of the front-runner's rivals, it will strike most sharply at Joe Lieberman. John Kerry also badly wanted and needed the endorsement of Gore, who nearly selected the Massachusetts senator as his running mate in 2000.

(snip)

In truth, the old Al Gore wouldn't have spent much time with any of these people. Lieberman may feel betrayed by his ex-running mate's decision, but he and Gore simply have very little in common anymore. Agree with Gore or not, his endorsement of Dean is a principled, brave decision by someone with an intimate understanding of what has gone wrong with the political system to which he dedicated his life. Gore is probably no more "radical" than he ever was, which isn't radical at all in the left-wing sense. But he clearly realizes that the hard right poses a real threat to American democratic values. I suspect he also believes that the most effective defense is the kind of grass-roots movement that drives both the Dean campaign and MoveOn.

When he puts his arm around Dean, he may also wish that such an epiphany had occurred while he was still a contender

more…
http://salon.com/opinion/conason/2003/12/08/gore/index.html