DraftGore.com ends active campaign.

[lildreamer316]

DAMMIT.

http://draftgore.com/free_details.asp?id=79

Over the last couple of years we have witnessed an unprecedented groundswell of support among the grassroots across America. By the hundreds of thousands you told us Al Gore is your candidate for President, and we did all we could to give a voice to this historic movement.

It is with the deepest regret therefore that we announce today that we cannot continue to actively campaign for a Gore candidacy. While Al Gore has still not made a definitive statement ruling out a candidacy, by now it is clear that he will not -- and in fact, cannot -- enter the primary campaign. As long as there was still time for Gore to put his name on ballots we were willing to fight, whatever the odds. That time has passed. A Gore candidacy is becoming a legal impossibility, as the deadlines for most key primaries and caucuses have passed.

Since our stated goal has always been to try to influence his decision to enter this race, we cannot continue this effort in good conscience. While disappointed, we respect his right to live his life the way he wishes and know that he will continue to make enormous contributions to this world as he has over his entire career. Nor are we giving up all hope.

more at link...

[emmadoggy]

1. :(

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Pastiche423]

2. If I read this correctly

the only difference in the group, is that they are no longer accepting donations. This part:

While we cannot anticipate any events right now that will reopen the door to a Gore candidacy in 2008, we know that in politics a few months is an eternity. Should something unpredictable happen before or during the convention, we'll be in a position to act. It is for that reason that we will not close our political action committee, will continue to maintain a web presence, and will continue running the Draft Gore Petition. But we will not accept contributions any longer, nor will we make an active effort to influence Al Gore's plans.

still gives me hope.

I will wait until the convention before I give up all hope.

[lildreamer316]

3. I agree...where does this leave the primaries?

Are they ALL (the major ones) past the deadline? I got so confused.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. Do you really think something will happen at the convention?

Gore is the best person for the job. This campaign season started so early that it seems like it has already dragged on forever and really it isjust getting started.

[Pastiche423]

5. I don't know

After googling for several hours, all I could come up w/is that "many people" think a brokered convention will not happen since the last two brokered conventions happened in 1948 and 1952. Both of those conventions were before the advent of television.

Maybe I am not using the correct words to find what I'm looking for. Any suggestions?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. I don't know. I am too tired to Google right now. I just hang on to

the shred of hope that we come to our senses. Every other candidate seems to splinter the party. We all seem to come together under Gore. Take him out of the equation and we fall apart.

[Duncan]

7. When is it too late to run as an independant?

Just a thought that never occurred to me until just now.

[SharonRB]

8. There's no way Gore would run as an independent

It would be as a Democrat or not at all.

[TheDoorbellRang]

9. I really don't think he would do that

In the form letter his office sends out to anyone who writes him, he says:

"...I intend to remain very active in fighting for the causes we believe in and working to ensure that the Democratic Party becomes a more effective voice for the values that you and I hold dear."

I still think he's planning something -- but I'm still in wait-and-see mode. Primary here is super Tuesday, and in our state, at least, he can declare his candidacy up until a week ahead of the election and then we can write him in.

[Pastiche423]

10. I can't find the answer to when the candidate must declare

his/her candidacy to be a write-in for my state.

Our state's voting info web site must have been built by someone that does not know how to build a website. It sucks big ones.

All I could find was:

The deadline that the SOS will accept declarations of candidacy or petitions for nomination or election for the primary election of May 20, 2008, is March 11, 2008.

Nada about write-ins.

When I click on search, I get: This page does not exist. lol

[TheDoorbellRang]

11. My googling skills are only telling me

that there's a lot of folks running for prez that I've never heard of before. Guess I'll just continue to hunker down, brood, and wait.

[rosesaylavee]

12. I think I have the brooding and waiting part down...

Still working on my hunkering. Hard to hold that position for long periods of time. Maybe just a question of building up that muscle mass. Fortunately, getting lots of practice this year!

[rodbailey]

13. Yeah, they need a lesson in clear english

I was just looking at your SOS website and got totally tangled in the gobbeldegook. Why can't they just say you can or can't do something. Since I don't live there and you do, one thing you might try would be to either call the SOS office or go to your town of county Dem. office and see if they have clear answers. Two things I am interested in finding out are: 1/ does a candidate for office (president) have to declare he/she is a candidate in order for folks to circulate petitions to put that person's name on the primary ballot. Here in NY, we did not have to have such a declaration, which is why we were trying to put Gore's name on the ballot whether he wanted it there or not. He then would have had about 5 days in which to take his name off the ballot if we had been successful. 2/ can you write in a candidate's name if they are not a declared candidate. In looking at a couple of other states that still have primaries with future deadlines for filing nominating petitions, these issues vary; e.g., Wisconsin looks like they would allow circulating petitions without the candidate's approval; Ohio looks like they could do it if you were trying to be an at-large delegate; Pennsylvania needs to have a candidate affadavit with the nominating petitions when they are filed. So, in the latter case, unless Gore says "go" Pennsylvania can't do anything; but, as I read the regs., Wisconsin and Ohio could. I'm no expert on election law, so if someone can clarify any of this, please do.

[Pastiche423]

14. I will call our county clerk tomorrow

If she can't answer your (and my) questions, I'll try to locate our SOS, Bill Bradbury. He lives about an half hour from me, but he hasn't been as helpful w/questions in the past.

As to your question #2 - Wouldn't it be better to ask if an undeclared candidate's write-in vote would be counted? Or do you want to know both?

[rodbailey]

15. You're right,

I was a bit muddled in how I stated that (I'll blame it on the late hour of that entry). I guess there are really 2 questions there - can you circulate petitions if the candidate hasn't approved, and can you write in a name if the candidate hasn't approved? Again, on the latter question, I suspect unless there were a major publicity effort in a populus state write-ins would be totally swamped by the number of votes for the leaders. Good to have folks like you ready to do some "homework" on this. As I may have mentioned elsewhere (I lose track of where I say what) there will be a conference call tonight for the algore.org coordinators in different locales with the "leaders" of that web site effort participating. One thing I'm going to try to suggest to them is that they release the names of people in a particular state that signed their on-line petition (or simply signed on as a local group member) or the petition at draftgore.com to local coordinators in the appropriate states. We had these in NY (after I specifically requested them when we were still in the midst of trying to get Gore's name on our ballot) and they were a goldmine of email addresses. I still use the list for local contacts with news, etc. I'll also suggest (assuming I get time to talk) that they help people in different states make sense of the state laws and regs about who you can petition for (in primary states where the deadline for nominating petitions has not passed) and how to go about that. Here in NY we had a fellow in NYC who was familiar with all of that and he helped circulate (on line) the petition form and instructions.

[rosesaylavee]

17. As long as you are part of that conf call

and you do get all of the above handled, can you ask them to address the details of what happened last month and the need to tell people what the heck happened? Some of us have put time, effort and money toward drafting Gore. The ending of that effort left a lot to be desired. As they were no doubt feeling that shock too - please ask them to help the rest of us move forward too.

I for one need some closure if that is indeed over. And more information would certainly help that happen.

[rodbailey]

19. That was one of the things on my list to raise

Not sure how far I'll get with that, however. I'm not sure Karen Wunderman is one of my greatest fans. When all this came down 4 weeks ago or so, I started picking up bits and pieces of what might have happened here on DU and other places. The fact that the first call/email was to the coordinator in CA, not directly to the algore.org people was one interesting finding. In any case, I addressed a series of questions to Karen in an email and she responded with answers to some of them, but continued to say that they couldn't reveal who on Gore's staff had been in touch with the fellow in CA (confidential stuff, I guess) or what the "problem" was that the ballot efforts would cause for Gore. Again, not sure I'll get much closure on that, even if I get to ask a question. I'll keep you informed.

[Pastiche423]

28. Called my county clerk's office

Was told I'd have to speak w/the Elections Division in Salem (our capital) which I did.

Question 1) Does a candidate for president have to declare he/she is a candidate in order for people to circulate a petition to put that person's name on the ballot?

Answer: Yes. W/o the candidate's approval, their name can not be put on the ballot. :(

Question 2) Can you write-in a candidate's name if they are not a declared candidate? If so, will the vote be counted?

Answer: You can write-in any name your heart so desires. IF (big ass if) the write-in candidate receives more votes than all of the other candidates combined, then yes, their votes are counted and they win. If they do not have the most votes, then nope.

Example:

Candidate A gets 100 votes

Candidate B gets 75 votes

Candidate C gets 150 votes

Write-in candidate gets 326 votes

Winner = Write-in candidate

So, according to Margie in the Election Division, Al Gore must declare his candidacy in order for his name to either be printed on our Paper ballots or he must give consent to being a write-in.

That was not the news I was hoping for.

[rosesaylavee]

16. Mopinko did find that out about Illinois.

In Illinois, the candidate does have to declare for the write in to be counted.

And Illinois' primary deadline for receiving petitions was last week. Will try to find a link to Mopinko's findings ... and maybe she will post before I find the link?

[mopinko]

24. you are correct, but

i am not sure if the deadline is the same. i will see if i can find this out. i have been wondering.

[mopinko]

25. well, isn't this interesting.

not sure if these changes apply to the feb 5 election. don't see how they could, but.....


County Clerks all over Illinois are breathing a sigh of relief with the passage of Senate Bill 662. SB662, which is officially called the Omnibus Elections Bill which will bring immediate help to county clerks as they prepare for the February 5 primary election.
snip

Another big savings for the county is the provision that requires write-in candidates to certify at least 61 days prior to an election. Under current law, a write-in candidate must file a notarized declaration to be a write-in candidate by 5 p.m. on the Tuesday preceding the election. By requiring candidates to file 61 days prior to an election, the election authority (county clerk in our county) may eliminate unnecessary write-in lines. In the case of the Feb. 5 balloting, the 61 day rule would be December 6.


http://www.shelbyvilledailyunion.com/local/local_story_344091154.html

[SharonRB]

26. So much for a write-in in Illinois

Very interesting that the law just changed.

[mopinko]

29. i am not sure this applies this time around.

they did use it as an example, but the article doesn't mention an effective date for the bill. i don't think they can change it for this cycle. i might be talking to the horse's mouth on saturday. i will try to find out.

[rosesaylavee]

27. dammit.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

18. Just checking in.

This is where I draw my strength and get inspiration. Since this place has given up on Gore, it has splintered and disintegrated into some of the most vile discourse it has ever been my utmost displeasure to witness. Gore has a way of uniting us like no other. Everyone is in attack mode and they seem to head straight for the jugular. I read GD and am appalled at what I see.

[rodbailey]

20. Who says

we've given up on Gore. I just learned the NH news is coming out tonight, rather than on the 17th. I will post later today with details. Keep the faith.

[lildreamer316]

21. WHoohoo!!

Looking foreward to it!! Thanks, as always, Rod.

[thetaoofterri]

22. Can't wait to hear...

I've been lurking for a couple of days and my heart started beating faster when I read this.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

23. God Bless YOU!!!

I will check in later tonight!!!!!:bounce: