[Se7enMeister]

I was just wondering why Gore is not running for office. I mean he would have the support of almost anyone that believes in the environment. And we know that he would steam roll over McCain in the election and he would easily get the nomination from the Dem's. Unless for him running for office was a been there done that kinda thing, What are you opinions ?

[noodles]

He doesn't want to. He's been saying that for well over a year.

[Lee]

You know, had he run I think he would've had a very tough fight to beat either Obama or Clinton.

[noodles]

You say that now. If he announced his candidacy around the same time as Clinton and Obama, Obama wouldn't have even been on the amp, and Clinton wouldn't have held on nearly as long.

[Lee]

Originally Posted by noodles

You say that now. If he announced his candidacy around the same time as Clinton and Obama, Obama wouldn't have even been on the amp, and Clinton wouldn't have held on nearly as long.

No, I understand how much of an underdog Obama was early on, but Clinton would always have a legitimate shot just because of who she is.

[noodles]

Yes, she would have always had a shot. However, they would be fighting for the same demographic, and he would do far better in that demographic than her. Plus, consider that this current race is sexism versus racism. When you opponent is a white male, then you have an uphill battle on our hands.

[Lee]

I think the voting dynamics would've been a LOT different if he had run. If you look at NC and IN, (just because they're so recent) and look at some of the counties that have major colleges in them, you see how much more people got involved this time around. The college that I go to had about 100 people turn out for the last primary, and we had about 1000 this time. On top of that, they went 8-1 for Obama.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by Lee

No, I understand how much of an underdog Obama was early on, but Clinton would always have a legitimate shot just because of who she is.

I'd been saying since last summer when he still seemed to be toying with the idea that Gore was the one candidate who could truly neutralize Clinton. Sure, she's got a lot of name recognition from her husband, and everybody loves the Clintons. But, Gore was Bill's Vice President, which totally neutralizes her "experience" argument. He's also won a Nobel Prize (and have we ever had a Nobel Prize winning candidate?) and an Oscar for his work building awareness of global warming. He's a celebrity, and celebrities work well in american politics.

I really think he's just not that interested though. The rumors of Gore as a possible VP have even by-and-large died. I think he just sort of got the hang of being an ex-presidential-candidate and doesn't really want to change that - he's focused 100% on a cause he believes in now, and if he went for the presidency he'd have to split time between global warming, the economy, negotiating trade deals, waging war in Iraq, and all sort of other things.

I'd have voted for him in a heartbeat, and I agree that outside of Big Oil throwing everything they have at him he'd probably have won. He's way more charismatic these days, which is really what did him in in 2000 (sure, Florida was a clusterfuck that he actually probably won, but let's be serious - that race should never have been that close in the first place). But all in all, I think he realizes he's accomplishing more where he is now than he could as a President.