What if Gore Ran as the Unity '08 Candidate?

[earthside]

What if Al Gore decided to run for President as part of the Unity '08 ticket?
With perhaps Sen. Hagel as his running mate?

Would you support Gore, even if that meant not voting to put the official nominee of the Democratic Party in the White House?

(It looks like with the Unity '08 plan, under this scenario, Gore would/could still be a registered Democrat.)

[muntrv]

1. Gore can run on just about any ticket, I'd vote for him.

[Ignacio Upton]

2. After being screwed over by Nader, I doubt it

Gore cares too much about this country to split the votes of rational-minded people (or semi-rational, in the case of Hagel, who's still a right-winger on everything outside of Iraq).

[Kelly Rupert]

I would despise him

with the same fury I despise Ralph Nader. All that would do would split the moderate and liberal vote (you're kidding yourself if you think the Republicans will break ranks) with Hillary/Edwards/Obama, clearing the path for Walnuts/Rudy/Romney to breeze to an undeserved victory.

Until we manage to institute IRV, any third-party talk is counterproductive.

[ronnykmarshall]

6. I don't think I could ever despise Gore like I do St. Ralph

I think the OP is moot. Gore would NEVER run other than a Democrat.

St. Ralph will NEVER have my respect.

[Kelly Rupert]

7. I would agree, but I used to like Nader.

I thought he was a real hero--a selfless fighter who had America's best interests in heart. Then I realized he was simply a self-absorbed egomaniac who only had his own pride at heart.

[ronnykmarshall]

28. You echo'd the same thing a friend of mine said.

For all the good he's done. He ruined it in 2000 and since then. He's a selfish asshole.

[Alexander]

3. The only time this country ever had a "Unity" ticket

Was when Republican Lincoln and Democrat Johnson formed the Union party for the 1864 elections, to show that although the parties had their differences, they were both still on the same side in the Civil War.

We have yet to repeat those conditions. Therefore, any unity party of any kind would be a terrible idea. It would essentially become a 1-party system, and countries with only one political party are not exactly pleasant places to live.

[JackRiddler]

23. Yes and consider what happened right afterward... nt

[LeftishBrit]

30. Yes; that would be my worry too

Coalition governments are to deal with the results of close elections, and establishing them beforehand seems to pre-empt the result of the election. Which doesn't really seem democratic.

Also, wouldn't there be an increased risk of assassination? Gore would constantly have to worry about Republican nutters who would prefer Hagel as president.

[brazos121200]

4. Gore running on ANY ticket other than the Democratic ticket

would be a disaster for liberals, since Gore would split the liberal vote. Hasn't anyone learned the lesson of 2000? Stay united, don't split the left vote, and try like hell to get a conservative repub or Democrat to run as an independent, to split the conservative vote.

[NobleCynic]

5. Then both the Unity candidate and the Democratic candidate would lose

Unless the Democratic candidate backed out. Elections are a numbers game, and this is a two-party system. Overcoming that is one hell of an uphill battle.

[AlCzervik]

8. He is a democrat, why would he run with someone who wasn't?

why take a chance of ever putting a republican in the whitehouse. The gop had their 12 years in congress and 6 yuears at the wh and it's going to take decades to repair the damage.

[SammyWinstonJack]

9. Orangized religion can take a flying suck at my butt and I would never vote for a republican!

[WorldResident]

10. Hey why not just pick Lieberman

Gore/Lieberman '08. That ticket used to be "liberal" once upon a time.

[AndyTiedye]

11. Would Teaming Up With Hagel (R. ES&S) Be An Attempt to Get The Machinez Vote?

[left is right]

12. The only way that a Democrat can survive on a Unity Ticket

is if s/he is the Vice President. If s/he is the President, you can expect an assassination within two years. The nation, of course, will mourn and the newly elevated pres will pledge to bring the perpetraitors (deliberately misspelled) to justice but we will never know for sure and the results will be a Republican president for the next ten years. I am not saying that the VP would be part of the plot, he probably wouldn't be, but some right wing extremest will see it as his sacred obligation to correct the "injustice" of being ruled by a DFH (dirty f*$#ing hippie.)

[WI_DEM]

13. Gore would never undermine the Democratic party by running a third party ticket

and certainly never with Chuck Hagel, who is one of the most conservative Republicans in the country--even if his stand on Iraq isn't.

[roamer65]

19. Exactly.

[bowens43]

14. Wow. Talk about handing the oval office to the republicans

on a silver platter.

It's foolish to even consider a third party candiate. That's how we got bush, remember?

[TwilightGardener]

15. If Gore ran

he wouldn't need to sully himself with a GOP'er--he could probably get the nom and stand a good enough chance to win the general. However, of more concern to Dems would be if Hagel were to run as an indie--not sure whose side that would siphon more votes from...

[rebel with a cause]

16. Lieberman was bad enough, I would not vote for any republican!

It scares me now that today Lieman began making nice with the democrats at the same time everyone was talking about Gore coming back. I do not want to see the ticket of 2000 repeated. Republican or Lieman in, I'm out. It is that simple.

[Oleladylib]

17. I would like to think so and I am a Unity 08 supporter..deal with it.

[Hippo_Tron]

18. I've read Unity '08's information page, they are delusional

They complain that neither party campaigns for the center and just panders to their base. Maybe they are correct about the Republic Party but the Democratic Party is pandering to the center more than ever in recent history.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

20. That would mean his running mate would be a Republican

oh wait, that was what happened last time, we just didn't realize it...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. I'll vote for the most progressive, anti-war, candidate on the ballot.

[BlooInBloo]

22. What if Gore raped 23 sea otters? Would you support him then?

Why are people so obsessed with batshitstupid Gore hypotheticals?

[Lusted4]

26. 23 ? hell no. 19 maybe. nt

[lutefisk]

27. Looks like a FOX News ticker: "...Gore raped 23 sea Otters?..."

Sort of off the topic... but one of FOX's main techniques- put a question mark on an outrageous statement and feed the subliminal ticker crap to the right wing fools who watch.

[Lusted4]

24. I don't want a stinking republican any where near the Whitehouse ever again.nt

[AtomicKitten]

25. Well, Hagel could help steal it FOR Gore for a change.

[johnaries]

29. Can I phrase it a little differently? the 2-Party System sucks.

Yes, I would vote for Al Gore no matter what party he ran under. But Al wouldn't run under any party except the Democratic Party.

Unfortunately, the "Party Machines" of both the Republican and Democratic parties have gotten so huge that no 3rd or 4th party can even "get in the game". I know several Libertarians who voted for Bush just because they knew Badnarick couldn't win. Here on DU, many chastise others for "voting their conscience" and call them "spoilers". Everyone should vote be able to vote their conscience without feeling that they are "throwing their vote away" or being called a "spoiler". But, right now, it's not practical.