Monday, January 08, 2007

"Will Gore Make Another Run?"

Chris Cillizza:
Yesterday's debut of the Sunday Fix in The Washington Post looked at the slim (but hard to ignore) possibility that Al Gore will make the race for president in 2008.

Can Gore's campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of global climate change propel another national campaign? Above (photo in story link), Gore gestures to the audience before speaking last month at the American Geophysical Convention in San Francisco. (AP Photo)
There was plenty of reporting that didn't make it into the print story, so what better way to reward The Fix's loyal readers than give them some more details about one of the most talked about 2008 story lines?

What's immediately clear from talking to those close to Gore is that the former vice president is not currently plotting any sort of national bid -- either publicly or privately.

One former aide explained that the lack of clarity concerning Gore's intentions are because he is running a campaign of sorts -- to bring more attention to the issue of global warming. And that global warming campaign should not be read as a shadow candidacy for president, the aide cautioned.

In many ways, keeping his name in the mix for 2008 helps raise the profile of Gore's pet issue, said former spokesman Chris Lehane. "He is a smart enough person to recognize that people talking about [global warming] through the prism of a presidential run is a good way to highlight and focus interest on an issue he cares deeply about."

So is Gore's refusal to rule out the race simply a function of his desire to keep the limelight on global warming? Maybe.

But maybe not. Talk of a Gore bid remains rampant among liberal activists who revere Gore for his early opposition to the war in Iraq, as well as among many Democratic consultants who view Gore as the ultimate "anti-Hillary" candidate.

"Everything he said about George Bush in 2000 was true," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), a former Bill Clinton aide who would likely support Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) should she run in 2008.

Not even Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) can match Gore in this. While Obama has risen to the top of the potential 2008 Democratic field thanks to his opposition to the war -- coupled with a unique charisma and a sense of destiny accompanying his candidacy -- he lacks the foreign policy chops of Gore. Obama can talk; Gore has done.

"In many ways he is our strongest candidate," said one senior Democratic strategist who was granted anonymity in order to speak frankly. "I never thought I would have said that a few years ago."

What appeals to Gore backers, however, is not simply the many issues he has focused on since leaving elected office in 2000. It is a sense that Gore has found himself -- an idea fueled by his widely acclaimed performance in "An Inconvenient Truth."

People have "a lot of respect for what he has done with the movie and the book," said Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network. "It reminded everybody what we all loved about Al Gore."

Carter Eskew, who has known Gore for three decades and served as one of his closest political advisers during the 2000 presidential campaign, said that his friend is displaying the personality showed during 17 years in the U.S. House and Senate. When Gore was picked to be Clinton's running mate, he was forced to sublimate his own personality and interests to that of the chief executive, according to Eskew.

"There is something uniquely infantilizing about being vice president," Eskew said. "When you are the number two you have to fit yourself into that box."

For now, the chatter about a reinvented and reinvigorated Al Gore is just that -- talk. It remains very unlikely that Gore will decide to re-enter the national political fray given the successes (financial and otherwise) he has found in private life.

But until Gore comes out and flatly rules out a 2008 run, it would be crazy to ignore the possibility that he will run again. If the energy currently crackling through the activist community for a Gore candidacy fails to abate with Obama's expected announcement, AND if Clinton looks to be a heavy favorite heading into the summer and fall, it may be impossible for Gore to turn down a race. Until then, we'll be watching closely.
Here's the news story referenced above: "Gore Leaves Door Ajar for 2008."

4 comments:

KM said...

I really like your blog. Can you tell how you add a box to your posts?

Howard Martin said...

km-
Blogger won't let me put html code in these comments. send me an email @ howieinseattlefordeanF@yahoo.com--
howie

Howard Martin said...

km-
that was supposed to be howieinseattlefordean@yahoo.com
howie

Ian Curran said...

I think Gore is going to run. I suspect that he has not announced yet for strategic reasons. He will let Clinton and Obama soak up the limelight, until we are tired of hearing about them, and then, in the wake of publicity from his upcoming book, The Assault on Reason, attacking the policies of the Bush administration -- especially on the Iraq war and the environment -- Gore will agree to run for the sake of the country, and the world. And, as the war continues and the ice caps continue to melt, every sane liberal in America will rally behind him. And Obama, I hope, will too.