Would you support an Al Gore independent run for president?

[Perky]

Poll question: Would you support an Al Gore independent run for president?

[rosesaylavee]

1. Other.

Its never going to happen. He comes from a solid democratic family and he is good friends with Howard Dean.

[blondeatlast]

10. Other; what she said. nt

[Bluebear]

2. But you said for the love of God he is not running. What's the point?

:crazy:

[Perky]

7. can't a guy be curious about the depth of support?

sheesh

[melody]

11. Which candidate are you supporting?

I mean, clearly you're hoping Al won't run and are gauging support for him if he does,
but I'm wondering whom you are supporting?

Can't a girl be curious about the person you're supporting? ;)

[Perky]

14. Right now I am favoring Obama

part of that is being anti Hillary. I think that Hillary's support would evaporate if Gore got in and it would alswo hurt Edwards. Obama would probably be hurt the least because his support is mostly from those who want a new idealism.

Gore emanates the same appeal but I think his ties to the past administration tend to eat into those who have run before.

ANd for the record I am not anti-Gore and I am not against him running.... I really do not think he is going to do for purely pragmatic and political reasons.. I think he has said that he is not going to run, but I could get behind his candidacy myself if he got in very soon.


My rant yesterday was two fold..it was a rant against those who seem absolutely convinced that he is going to run as opposed to those who simply holding out hope... ANd because I think this latching on to Gore when he continues to demur effectively keep money out of the hands of other candidates who have jumped in. Personally I would like to see the third tier gain about 5% at the expense of Hillary.

Now at the same time....I do think that the infatuation with Gore is somewhat obsessive and belies the facts of his campaigning history and the fact that he opposes impeachment. The disconnect is a little sad.

[melody]

27. Whenever we focus on things other people aren't interested in, it's called "obsession" lol

Personally, I feel sad at the disconnect of people who can't see the huge obstacles Obama has in his way.
His race, his name, his lack of experience, all of these things going up against some GOP Alpha primate
will get him mowed down. Hillary can't win either. Edwards is the only one who has a shot and he is the
one I'm actively campaigning for, however that doesn't mean I don't think Gore is the one ... it's not
infatuation any more than your Obama interest is "infatuation" ... that's just a disingenuous way of sneering
at someone else's different choice.

Beyond all that, for a host of reasons I've already gone through, I do think Al is running. I just think he's
timing this perfectly.

I'd like to see Obama as Gore's running mate personally. I'd prefer Edwards, but I don't think he'd be the VP
part of the ticket again.

[Perky]

33. I never said that hope for Gore runing was a bad thing

Never.


The context was always people who are insisting that he is as a matter of fact bordering on obsession.


Now as for Obama. I am realistic about his opporunity and I honestly think that he lays appropriate title to Martin's Dream.. I think soutern whites sense that instinctively...perhaps more than souther blacks. For On=bame to win he has to flip some southern white who are utterly dienchanted with the republicans and see him as somebody they can respect and is not beholder to narrower interest. He does not have to win a southern states but if he can close the 10% gap to 3% and the republican nominee is a moderate rather than a rightwinger he has a chance.


I think Obamaa is the closest thing to RFK this country has seen in many many years. But it is going to be a brave new balancing acing for him to hold the Democratic coalition together. He has tremendous political instincts and intellect and I think he provides inhis candidacy the meants by which the racial divid in this country can be substantially over come.


But I emphasize can as oppose to "will" Ig hillary pulls out winin iowa.. I susepect the backlash goes strongly to him.. If Edwards win. I think he winds up as VP. WHich I am fine with as well.

[melody]

36. And I suggest that's just your wish to discount someone else's genuine enthusiasm to bolster Obama

Think of it as "obsession" all you like. Gore is the strongest contender we have to win. I've already
stated all my reasons for thinking he's going to. I don't pound at people who don't think he's going to
run -- one of us will be proved wrong eventually -- but I don't "get" others continuing to harp on Gore.
Don't want to hold out for him, fine, go serve your own candidate. But I wouldn't support either Obama
or Hillary in the primaries, as I've already stated. Trying to discourage Gore supporters is not going
to help your nom. By the time the primaries come around, if Gore hasn't announced, most of us will be
voting for someone else. They'll get us by default anyway.

What's important is that the *strongest* Democrat gets the nomination. Anything beyond that, is my own
selfish projection. We're in a war with a vicious opponent who wants to destroy our country.

[Perky]

41. You do noth think there is a difference between hoping Gore will run

and insisiting that he is going to run depsite there being no ecploratory comittee in place. No funding mechamism
very little time between no and the filing deadline to get a machine in place.

Amd statements by Gore himself that he has lost interest in polioices?

[melody]

46. You don't really think we know all that is going on, do you?

There has been a committee in place for some time -- meeting "unofficially". Gore doesn't
need a funding mechanism. The moment he enters, he's there. Everything he has done, has
propelled him into the spotlight ... from An Inconvenient Truth to the Assault on Reason to
Live Earth. He has done this without selling his soul to big business and accepting soft
soft money. Were he to enter now, there would be a groundswell of support unlike any we've
ever seen for a candidate. Draftgore.com is a case in point.

Gore has said he's fallen out of love with politics. He never said he'd fallen out of love
with public service. You don't think ... maybe ... he's merely inventing a new vision of
running for public office that builds a road around politics? We have in his books, his whole
policy laid out. We also have his unwillingness to say "no, I am not running for President
this election". That would be the easiest, fastest way to dispense with speculation. He'd also
back a candidate. He has 1) not backed a candidate and 2) not once come out and said "I am not
running for President this election". The very fact he hasn't, along with his various "gosh,
I think we start too early with this stuff ... I don't like to see the Christmas stuff in the stores
right after Halloween" comments, suggests strongly to me we're going to see Al enter the race
after the Nobel prize is awarded.

[Perky]

51. Due Respect, I still think this has to be categorized as

wishful thinking (or fervent prayer) It seems wholly premised on what he has not said rather than what he has said..

There is nothing wrong with the Draft Gore movement or in the underlying hope that he will be persuaded to get in. Nothing at all wrong with holding out that hope.


But we have been hearing that he ais about to announce for the last six months. And I think given that he has not made a single trip to Iowa or New Hampshire to fuel expectation or serve notice of any sort on the existing candidates that he is thinking about it..... is very telling. At the time of the Iowa caucuses, Obams stands to have collected $100M and HRC would have collected some $80M and Edwards around $60M. Money is not everything. But you still need boots on the ground to get delegates and you still are going to need a substantial advertising budget.

Given the dollars that are going to be thrown into the fray trying to get air time in iowa is a very risky proposition if you are not collecting money now and buying up what airtime is available. Right now you have 20 candidates buying air time for the last three months of 2007 and there is just not hoing to be that much time available to buy.

Obviously time will tell.... but he is on his back foot right now in the early states. and I think it is naive to think he is going to get in given all his comments of late, but I think it is more naive and a little arrogant to think he can compete for delegates in the early primaries. The idea that people would leave the guy they have contributed to and worked for over the past six months and the next three until the filing deadline seemed incongruous with the paces that Iowa and New Hampshire voters have come to expect from the candidates.


But the real issue in my mind are far more pragmaticv:

!. Even if Gore was seriously thinking about it he would still need institutionalized support (i.e., endorsements) to compete effectively and those are going to be gobbled up very quickly over the next couple of months. The idea that the endorsing class would vacate their existing endorsements to jump on the Gore bandwagon is very naive: largely because it is very risky politically and there is a lot of patronage and back-scratching that goes on with the endorsing process and largely because politicians do not want to seen by the voters as flipfloppers and do not want to be seen as disloyal.

2. There is likely a great risk that if Al Gore was relying on net roots to carry him through the early primary season that he would have a rude awakening mot unlike Howard Dean's in 2004. He had strong net based support but it did not translate into votes on Caucus night in Iowa.

3. But here is the other practical issue....It would seem quite doubtful to me that Gore would take the Ethanol Pledge in Iowa given the rather poor energy potential of ethanol. And that is they type of thing that would really hurt him in Iowa.

4. Serious question are are going to be asked by serious voters, pundits, and politicians about Gore's late entry and enthusiasm about the job if he gets in at the last moment. You can bet there is going to be lots of chatter about whether Gore really want the job or just wants a platform to discuss Global Warming. He is going to have to overcome the perception that his heart is not in it....because of his last campaign.

Look bottom line... is that I think it is great that you have someone you believe so much in......laudable. But right now.... I think there is maybe a 10% chance that Gore is going to get in to the race. I am politically pragmatic. largely because of three decades of work in field operations for many candidates. The Democratic voters are largely happy with the field of candidates even if the netroots lean a bit towards Al Gore.

[melody]

53. And I think your Obama support is pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking

This thread has grown increasingly ridiculous. Have your last word and end it here.

[Perky]

55. I gues I am done since you have chosen not to refute

anyt of the point I made. But honestly I think Al's forces need to get in the game now.....or hope for a brokered convention....which is a real possibility.


Cheers

[MADem]

3. I can't see Al leaving the Democratic Party. He's no Holy Joe. NT

[rzemanfl]

4. Al Gore is no Ralph Nader. n/t

[havocmom]

24. BINGO! We have our winnah!

Thanks to the rest of our fine contestants, but the lines are now closed. ;)

[melody]

5. Al is not leaving the Democratic Party - he has said so many times

There's a long and faithful history in the progressive south toward the Democratic Party.

I have to echo the sentiment, though, if he's "absolutely not running", why the poll? ;)

[Radical Activist]

35. He has also said he isn't running for President many times.

Why do you accept one statement but not the other?

[melody]

37. Because he hasn't said he's not running for President even once

All he'd have to do to eliminate the attention is say -- quite simply -- as he has to the question of running
as an independent -- "No, I am not running for President." He hasn't said that -- he has said everything but
that, including a lot of "I cannot completely rule out" stuff and mentioning strongly his thoughts of November.
Politically speaking, all he is doing is dancing around the question, not answering it, for very good reasons.

[yes2truth]

6. Corporate media would destroy Gore AGAIN if he runs

Gore knows that the combination of corporate media and GOP voter suppression and vote tally fraud would make it impossible for him to be declared the winner, even if he did win...again.

[melody]

8. He won the first time -- it took a Supreme Court parlor trick to trip it

He'd win again.

And for real, this time.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

13. they will try...

but we will thwart them.

[Bridget Burke]

57. The Corporate Media will be after any Democrat who runs....

Our Nominee had better be tough.

[blondeatlast]

9. Edit--oops. nt

[dysfunctional press]

12. that would be INCREDIBLY stupid, and would hand the white house right back to the 'pugs.

nt

[Perky]

15. I agree and yet 1/3d of responders think Al Gor should do precisely that...

[A Simple Game]

25. Funny I didn't see an option asking if I thought Gore should run

as an independent.

I voted for the option "Would you support an Al Gore independent run for president?"

In this case I think support means after he has decided, not encourage him to run as an independent.

I do feel that Gore may be the one person in my lifetime that could break the stranglehold that the two major parties have on our political system.
That I could and would support.

[Garbo 2004]

40. No, that wasn't what your poll asked. n/t

[LWolf]

16. Maybe.

Depending on what the other choices were.

[KAT119]

17. OTHER=REVERSE STOLEN 2000 ELECTION--install THE TRUE WINNER!!

All the research shows that Al Gore won the 2000 Election legally, Despite massive dirty voting tricks by R's, AND stopping the vote count midstream, AND, the partisan R Supremes selecting the *loser to be pres.

Remember, (I know you do) when the election was called for Gore, and the famous interview of smiling BFEE saying 'not so fast...Jeb is working on it and reassures us everything will go our way'. (words to that effect).

Truth, Justice and restoration of our Democracy, Constiution and rule of law rquires reversing this seminal INJUSTICE NOW.

[Pushed To The Left]

38. And remove ALL of Bush's appointees, including those on the Supreme Court!

Can you imagine the right-wing heads exploding as Alito and Roberts have to step down and a Democratic President replaces them? The right wingers in the Senate would filibuster, but they would eventually have to approve somebody. And there's no way a true Democratic President would put a far right Justice on the bench!

[roxnev]

18. Look how green

A vote for Nader made the world. You can't start a party by starting at the top. all good strong Parties have strong foundation

[IndyOp]

19. If there is OVERWHELMING populist demand for Gore then it doesn't

matter whether he runs as a Dem or Independent. I think it would be a little safer to run as a Dem, although I think he will only step in if the demand is overwhelming - so that he is assured that he can make the most of being in the White House.

[MasonJar]

20. I voted wrong; I will only support a dem; however, Gore will never run except as a Dem.

[racaulk]

21. I don't think Gore would run as an Independent.

He knows better than anyone how a third party candidate can split the progressive vote. I don't think he would intentionally do that to the Dem candidate, whoever he or she ends up being. There's too much at stake for the GOP to have the Presidency for another four years, and I imagine Gore knows all of this all too well.

[WinkyDink]

22. No, and neither would HE. Jeez.

[BlooInBloo]

23. It appears that Democrats aren't the OP's favorite candidates...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1275632&mesg_id=1275632

[Perky]

32. Actually I am exceeding pro-democrat and will vote for the dem nominee regardless.

of who it might be.


I do not favor a Bloomberg candidacy....not by any stretch, My goal is this and other posts it to point out the hypocrisy I see on this bard. It is stunning to me how many people will say in one breath how much we have to drive the republican from power and then in the next say they would vote for Al Gore as a third Party candidate or Bloomberg as a vp. Or how we need to run the current crop of Dems out of office or how they support Cindy Shehan threats against the SPeaker Pelosi.
Or how they would be more inclined to vote for Nader...or vote Green rather than support the nominee if they will not support the impeachment motion.

These are the folks that have cost us dearly in the last two elections and are largely responsible for the calamity of the last 7 years.

[BlooInBloo]

43. Ah.

[Elspeth]

26. I would like to see him run, but only as a Dem

I do believe the Republicans will win any three-way race with two moderate-to-left candidates. I oppose Mayor Bloomberg (sp) for the same reason.

[ClassWarfare2008]

28. Let me be perfectly clear on this one.

Al Gore is the best qualified person to be President of the United States at this time in history. If he decides to run, he will have my vote.

Do I believe he would leave the Democratic Party? Not unless he has come to the realization that the party is completely lost to the corporatists and therefore deserves to die.

Are we at that point yet? I hope not. But things surely aren't looking good at the moment.

[AlGore-08.com]

29. Al Gore is one of the only people I would vote for regardless of party affiliation

The three others are Dems I know and have worked with for years, and know what their core values are and how dedicated they are to public service.

That said I agree that Gore won't leave the Democratic party unless it's so broken that it cannot function any more - - that the party is controlled completely by a machine at the top and the grassroots have no say in the choice of candidates or platforms. I don't think we are at that point, but we have been very close to it recently.

[Selatius]

30. Gore would split the vote on the left and lose, I'm afraid

Whoever runs on the right could win simply because he has the plurality, a more unified base on the right than the left has.

[TahitiNut]

31. "Support a run" is different than vote for. Sure. But not because of the reasons given.

The more the better ... I support voices that improve the public discussion of the issues.

[Joe Fields]

34. Absolutely. But he won't become an independent, so not to worry.

[frogcycle]

39. don't expect it, don't advise it, but if he did it

I'm in
eom

[UTUSN]

42. The human is a DEMOCRAT. Why ask this? n/t

[Crunchy Frog]

44. If Al Gore runs, it will be as a Dem.

Why on Earth would anyone here think otherwise?

[Jed Dilligan]

45. Seeing as he's the only candidate who has ever actually inspired me,

I probably would help deliver California's electoral votes to Mr. Gore.

[dansolo]

47. Absolutely not

He should run in the Democratic primary. If he can't win the primary, he ain't gonna win the general election.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

48. Would you support another royally dumbass poll?

[Perky]

52. I agree it is a stupid scenario but look at the support Gore gets as an independent

The cat that we have so many lemmings is a very scary thing.

[Tesha]

49. It's a nonsense question as it would never happen. (NT)

[Virginia Dare]

50. Question is moot, he'll never run as an Independant...n/t

[Firespirit]

54. Would you support an end to the Party wankoff?

I know I sure as hell would. Enough of these "loyalty polls." SOME of us vote for the candidate rather than the party. Our votes must be earned, not taken for granted.

[Perky]

56. Of course and I am all for a vigorous primary campaign at any level any time

but at the end of the day I am willing to suck it up and support who ever democratic party voters support...because anyone who votes for a progressive alternatives is responsible for electing republicans.