Gore Can Beat Hillary for the Nomination

[goreo8]

On Saturday on MSNBC, this writer volunteered that if Al Gore would enter the Democratic primaries, he could defeat Hillary Clinton and win the nomination. Hours later, there popped up on Drudge this headline: "Al Gore Says He Hasn't Ruled Out Second Run."

"I haven't ruled out running for president again in the future, but I don't expect to," Gore told reporters in Australia, where he has been promoting his film on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth."

Al must have been watching MSNBC.

And why should Al Gore cede the nomination and a place in history he coveted to the spouse of the man but for whose personal transgressions he would be president of the United States?

If Al ran, he would open with a pair of aces. To Democrats, Gore was right on the war when almost everyone else was wrong, which gives him the inside track to the antiwar vote that will be as crucial in the Democratic primaries of 2008 as it was in 1968 and 1972.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/09/clinton_vs_gore.html

[acmavm]

1. If any of the dems I know are an indication, you can beat her

for the nomination. I have NEVER spoken to a single person who wants her to run for President.

[Crazy Dave]

2. I would trust Gore to make the right decisions...

...when it comes to defending this country or if the need to go to war abroad was necessary and he's the best candidate on environmental issues.

Welcome to DU goreo8 :hi:

[DavidDvorkin]

3. Would Bill Clinton then campaign for him?

If Gore asked him to?

I wonder about that. Clinton would have been happy to do so in 2000, but 2008 would be a very different situation.

[mentalsolstice]

4. I Think A Deal Would Be Worked Out

...before Gore announced a run. He would go to the Clinton camp and make sure she's not running. In fact, neither side can really afford to piss off the other.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. True

I was thinking that if Gore ran and won in 2008, the Clintons would have to go on the assumption that he would be reelected in 2012, which would mean that Hilary would face the age question the next time she could feasibly run. There would also be new strong contenders, probably including whoever Gore's VP was.

If Gore ran and lost in 2008, Hilary would still be in a strong position in 2012.

[saltpoint]

9. If Senator Clinton is in the race, I don't see Big Dawg endorsing Gore

unless he becomes the nominee or unless HClinton does not run or runs and drops out.

Then the path's clear and you'd likely see Big Dawg doing what he does best. Gore and Clinton aren't the same kind of Democrats, but that's ok. Just about none of us is the same kind of Democrat.

But none of us wants assholes like Bill Frist and Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani anywhere near the White House, so my guess is you'd see some major unity in 2008 from Democrats of all stripes.

Caucuses or primaries in Iowa/Nevada/New Hampshire/South Carolina are scheduled in winter of 2008. That will be a breath-taking time for any political junky, and it will serve as a major circuit breaker and clearing house for the Party.

We may not know who the party's nominee will be at the end of those four primaries, but we will know who likely won't be.

[karynnj]

10. Not in the primaries

The current issue has a long issue on Clinton - called The Wanderer. Although it is in the table of contents on the magazine's site, the article is not online. In it Clinton labels both Gore and Kerry as honorable men who are losers. In the second reference he includes them in a list with Dukakis, Mondale and McGovern. He sees only one person with what's needed to win ...... Hillary (are you surprised.)

Clearly the 2 mentions - where each time he contrasts them to the GREAT WONDERFUL Bill, a winner - are intended to both congratulate himself but likely intended to diminish Gore and Kerry. He somehow ignores that Gore got more votes than Bush and that Al Gore was not the reason a man who had major alcohol problems and a bad reputation until he was 40 could run on "bring honor back to the white house".

I think we will be hearing and seeing more and more Bill as time goes by - and I'm not looking forward to it.

[OneBlueSky]

6. the most important consideration for Al Gore is that . . .

his country needs him . . .

with global warming and survival of life on the planet now THE issue that most needs addressing -- and fast -- his bona fides as a committed environmentalist are precisely what the country needs . . . as opposed to a candidate beholden to the corporate interests that are doing most of the environmental damage . . .

[halobeam]

7. I agree that would be his number one consideration above all else.

[saltpoint]

8. Katherine Harris and the Supreme Court stole the '00 election.

Bill Clinton's "transgressions" were not the cause of Gore's "loss."

Politically, the Gore campaign might have done a bit better had it competed in Ohio. Gore conceded Ohio weeks before the election and only lost it by 3.4 or 3.7 percent, I believe. A truncated effort.

Gore lost his home state of Tennessee as well, often a hargbinger of disappointment in a national election.

But the Bush apparatus in Florida stole the election from Gore and the presidency was rightly his.

My guess is he'd contest Ohio down to the very last vote in the remotest nook and cranny this time.

You're right on his chances against Sen. Clinton, IMO.

And not least, the man is qualified for the job.

I think he WANTS the job.

But I don't yet get the sense he's making phone calls to state Dem chairs to keep him in mind. If those calls start happening, I'll be more convinced he's going to jump in.

Right now, I'm not feeling it very strongly. If Gore were to jump in, it would be in the middle of the primary season and not at the beginning, and only then if no one else had an evident run at a first-ballot nomination.

With such a crowded and talented field, that is a distinct possibility for 08.