If Gore won't run: A write-in campaign?

[Phredicles]

I was wondering what people thought of this. Several of the candidates who have declared have their merits, but none has the national stature of Al Gore, and I don't think any of them could represent our ideals as effectively as he could.

At the same time, as much as I admire the man, this will-he-or-won't-he thing is getting tired. So I'm thinking a write-in campaign might be just the approach for his supporters to take to sidestep the question, and perhaps also to get him to see clearly how much the country is looking to him for real leadership of the sort that's been lacking for far too long.

A plus of our current ridiculously long electoral season is that there is still plenty of time to get word out about a write-in campaign before we start voting in the primaries. So what do people (especially people who would like to vote for Gore) think? Is this an idea worth pursuing?

[wildhorses]

1. at this point -- it is either him or mickey mouse

i think i will go with gore;)

[havocmom]

2. = GOP win

Nader-like move

[Phredicles]

3. I'm talking about the primaries here.

I respect that DU will be committed to whoever the official nominee is for the general election.

[AZBlue]

30. Then we won't have an honest primary between the actual candidates.

And the winner may be someone that the majority doesn't want.

[Phredicles]

31. If the actual candidates are not adequate, then it would be good to add one who is.

[SharonRB]

4. I doubt a write-in campaign would work

The Draft Gore movement is doing all we can to let him know how much support he has -- collecting petition signatures, showing up wherever he speaks with paraphernalia and Gore '08 stickers, etc. If he has decided not to jump in by the time the primaries roll around, a write-in campaign won't get him to change his mind. He already knows he has a lot of support and hears it more and more everyday. If he's not convinced before it's too late to get on the ballots, he'll never be convinced. I'm still fairly confident that he'll jump in. In 2004, he asked the draft movement to stop. He hasn't done that so far this time, which gives me a lot of hope. I also feel that if he really decides not to do it, he'll make some kind of public announcement.

I don't think he's trying to be coy so far -- I really think he hasn't made a decision yet. He had no trouble telling Larry King that he has zero interest in being Secretary of State or in any other cabinet post, but he has not said that about the presidency. As hard as it is, I think we all have to be patient. If he has any thoughts of running at all, he's running a brilliant campaign. He's getting tons of publicity and exposure and it's not costing him a dime. He's doing it on his own terms, which totally works for me.

[Uncle Joe]

24. I agree with your assessment SharonRB

:thumbsup:

[SharonRB]

25. Thanks, Uncle Joe.

[On the Road]

5. If Gore Wants to Run,

he has plenty of time to enter the race before the primaries. If he does not, a write-in campaign should not be the subject of a write-in campaign. It is a surefire way to pull defeat from the jaws of victory.

[Apollo11]

6. Looks to me like a long shot

By November 4th (one year out from the general election), if Gore hasn't entered the race, then I think it will be too late.

Plus you haven't taken into account the very strong likelihood that Wes Clark will enter the race in September.

Wes Clark is a serious and experienced candidate, who has been a consistent critic of the Bu$h-Cheney adminstration on both domestic and foreign policy (at least - since before the invasion of Iraq).

If Gore wants the nomination, he should let us know by November 4th.

In the meantime - there are things we can do to increase the chance that he will jump in.

But if he really doesn't want the nomination, then I think it makes sense to find someone who does.

Let's all find ways to show our support for Al Gore! :patriot:

Visit Al's site www.algore.com and read his blog http://blog.algore.com

Get ready for Live Earth on 7/7/07: www.liveearth.org

Sign the petitions at www.algore.org and www.draftgore.com

:kick:

[SharonRB]

7. And join a Draft Gore meetup group in your area!

We all need to get active -- the more people we have, the better chance we can convince him to run.

[RestoreGore]

8. Sigh

The man is in Istanbul today making news regarding this climate crisis, and this is all anyone can talk about concerning him. No wonder he demurs at all of this same old same old pushing. Why should he enter this toxic system again just to be used again, when no one even appreciates what he is doing now?

[Apollo11]

10. Why enter a toxic system?

Maybe because Al Gore would be one of the best people I can think of to get it cleaned up?

Maybe because it kinda matters who will be President of the USA from 2009 thru 2017?

Maybe because Al Gore is simply better qualified that Hillary, Obama or Edwards? :eyes:

In fact I agree with you that if he really doesn't want the job, we cannot force him to run.

But the last I heard from Al - he was refusing to rule out the possibility of another run.

(Both on Charlie Rose and on Larry King)

[Labors of Hercules]

13. Has he given any speaches or interviews today? Can you give me a link??? n/t

[RestoreGore]

15. Al Gore In Istanbul

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1095579&mesg_id=1095579

I would think people who support him shouldn't need a link to know what he is doing... but then, isn't something that can be turned into a political rally. Again, it would appear that many do not really care about his work on the climate crisis and what it means to him and only use it for a political end. I think that is disrespectful to the man especially since he is truly sincere and serious about this work, as we should be.

[countingbluecars]

27. What?

Asking for a link means one does not support Gore and his work? Who are you?

[renie408]

17. Uhhh... because he could be President of the United States and leader of the free world

and do a helluva sight more for restoring reason to public discourse and healing the environment in that position than he can writing books and being in movies?? Plus, I think it is fairly obvious that he is a political animal, no matter what has been going on for the past seven years. I don't think he is such a delicate flower that entering this 'toxic system' is going to make him wilt.

Oh, and I am not so sure that this system is going to be quite so toxic this time around. I think the GOP is going to have to be a little more careful now that they are not the ones in control or even very popular.

[RestoreGore]

20. Leader of the free world?

Talk about sound bites. What "free world" would you be talking about exactly? And it is always HE will do this and HE will do that. When and where does the WE come into that equation? I think until it does you won't see him in any political campaign again, and frankly, I can't blame him one bit. HE is aready doing much to mend many wrongs in this world. It's time for US to step up to the plate and fix the mess WE made. And since when is writing books unworthy? Could you write one as he did? Do you have any ides the impact his books and the movie An Inconvenient Truth have had? Again, why should he run in any system when the work he is doing now is obviously unappreciated? Seems some only want a "name" they think can "win." FYI, there's much more to all of this than that.

[MonkeyFunk]

9. Start an internet petition!

Those always work! :bounce:

[Bitwit1234]

11. Why siphon off the democratic vote.

Will the people who vote like this lead to the election of another republican. Any democrat who gets the nomination is going to be 1000% better than a republican. And if we start to split up the vote it is only going to help republicans.

Now in the primaries ok. But not the general election. Please don't pull a Nader in 2000.

[Phredicles]

12. Please read post #3 on this thread.

:eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes:

[Totally Committed]

14. If Gore won't run, we should respect his obvious wishes not to, and

let him be. If he doesn't run, he doesn't run.

That having been said, I do hope he chooses to run. Ditto Clark. But, we shouldn't twist their arms if they are against a run.

TC

[renie408]

18. I agree...but right up until it is too damn late, I am going to pester the crap

out of him to run. I am even getting my kids to write him letters begging him to run so that they will have a decent future to look forward to.

[Phredicles]

22. I want him to see that the country needs him, and the world needs him;

I've seen a fair amount of the declared candidates by now and none of them have convinced me they'd be up to the job. But about Gore, I am convinced.

I do think the next president MUST get things right or it may well be too late to prevent the US from dissolving and the world melting into a baking crap-hole (indeed, I'm going only on faith that it's not too late already). There are never any guarantees, but I trust Gore quite a bit more than anyone else on the political scene.

That said, if Clark does declare and Gore does not, I'll be interested to see what he has to say. But for the time being, my position is Gore Whether He Likes It Or Not.

[RestoreGore]

16. After trying it in 2004 and learning my lesson,,, no

I would never ever again do anything to push or force this man to do something he does not have plans to do. If he wants to run somewhere down the line he knows what he needs to do, and even though I am not at all pleased with this system as it stands either, I would support him only if it were come to freely. However, I do not believe he will do so now. Therefore for me, the time is better spent helping him work to solve this climate crisis and mobilize people to action for their planet and their country which is actually most important right now to securing our future.

[ripple]

19. If Gore doesn't run, he doesn't want the job

it makes absolutely no sense to write him in.

On the other hand, if he chooses to run, he has a damned good chance of winning the nomination.

The ball is in his court.

[lwesty]

21. I am planning to write in Gore

in the primaries.

[BlueIris]

23. Definitely worth considering. nt

[Colobo]

26. Don't be selfish. Respect Gore's decisions, whatever they might wind up being.

He's not the property of the American people, he is his own man, and he knows what's best for him.

[polichick]

28. I think he'll give us his decision in no uncertain terms...

After the Nobel Prize announcement. He might as well enjoy the ultimate campaign as long as possible!

This way he gets positive pr through the summer, sitting comfortably in the catbird seat while the others fight it out. If the climate's right in the fall and he gets in the race, he'll be able to raise loads of money online pretty quickly.

[AZBlue]

29. Why do you want someone in the WH who doesn't want to be there?

I LOVE Al Gore. If he declared his candidacy, I'd be down at the local Gore office to volunteer before he'd even finished his speech. But, no one should be there unless they want to be.

And, much more importantly, a write-in campaign would just take votes away from the Dem candidate, thereby possibly allowing a GOP victory. We don't want that, do we??

[Imagevision]

32. gee's I hope Gore choose's Lieberman as his running mate again...

[RestoreGore]

33. Even though he never asked any movement for him in 2004 to stop

A write in campaign would not get traction and as he has stated he has fallen out of love with politics now which he had not stated in 2004, it would seem more like harrassment as I do think the draft movement now is as well. And just to clarify again, he never asked any movement to stop in 2004. I know because I was part of the Draft 04 movement for a month or two before leaving it and was also part of another movement as well as starting one of my own, and not one of them was asked to do anything until they closed up shop the day after he endorsed Howard Dean, and what I tried to do even after that was never shut down by anyone involved with him. So I don't know how that got started but it is false as far as I know. The fact that he hasn't done anything now to me means absolutely nothing, except that he just doesn't pay any mind to it because he is too busy actually doing something worthwhile.

[Imagevision]

34. When Gore chose Lieberman as his running mate, it spoke volumes in itself.

[Phredicles]

35. That was a bad mistake. But I'm working on the theory that

he knows how much of a disservice that campaign (and especially that specific decision) did to the ideals and policies he's advocated for since then.