On Chris Matthews this morning, the second person John, said
Al Gore will endorse Barack Obama in less than 6 weeks
AND
If the Democrats lose in 2008, Al will be the only choice in 2012...

(oye vey!)

My neighbor, a staunch environmentalist believes Gore will not run this time. He thinks the Republicans will slam Al, saying he is using the Nobel to "further his political career". He believes Gore will run "next time". I disagreed. I said there isn't time to wait and see, Gore knows the urgency of the climate crisis. If Hilary wins, Al will be 68? if she wins a second term. Sure, he can probably beat Guliani (God Forbid he wins!), but why would he wait??

I hope it's ok to put this here. I am not surprised he would back Obama. I just want Al to run and choose Obama as his VP.

The only thing I know is, IF (as some here think) Al would never run 3rd party,
we are almost at the deadline date

And momentum is going down as the days and weeks go past the Nobel announcement...

(there is always the VP...,but as James said(sort of), time for that after the Sherman for #1.

Chris Matthews will take any opportunity to slam Al Gore, so don't pay any attention to what he says.

OMG! I can barely stand to read all this "Plan B" talk, not just here, but on other threads as well.

Seems I'd have a lot more trouble dealing with acceptance if Gore doesn't run. I can't get even the least bit excited about any other choice that would just (to me anyway) mean 'business as usual." Watching the clock tick for the past few years has been excruciating enough. If anyone but Al is the next POTUS, that clock will just be reset as far as I'm concerned. My patience can't take it.

All systems are GO(re)! Where is the captain?

Matthews wasn't the one who said it

One of the other talking heads did

We need to think of PlanB because there won't be much time after part A to start working toward part B it will have to be out there

We haven't had cable in so long, I've forgotten whose side anyone is on.

I am still holding out hope we will hear something very postive in the next few days.

TNblue - me too! Gore is my plan A-Z!

I just can't grasp the thought of anyone other than Gore being the next President. I want this man to represent me, as he has for more than 3 decades. There is no one who has served us more honorably or has been more dedicated to our best interest, not his own.

Well, the most optimistic thing I can say about my personal "Plan B" is that once again I'll have to decide the lesser of the evils. A Republican could be included in that consideration if Hillary's name appears.

That's not popular here, I know. Let's just keep tying to move forward with the thing that unites us. If the Gore-door closes for good, I suppose we'll all go our separate ways.

Till then, thank you all for being here.

You misunderstand what I said about point B

Point A is Gore runs himself for president
Point B is any of the following-

Gore runs Independent/3rdparty/Unity08

Gore runs as VP for either Obama/Hillary/etc/ or Bloomberg

Point C is Gore 2012
Point D is Gore 2016

So though we may all whine here, we will all I am sure keep our future options open too if unfort. 2008 don't happen

But there would need to be a continuned effort the moment Point A don't happen, to get the idea into others heads that Point B (3rd party) is always out there or
Pt B VP for someone else is the best move

Plan B is the ballot initiative and delegate strategy. Initially we thought we would just do this in a few states to make a point, hoping to convince Gore to get in that way. Now, we at AlGore.org have identified 28 states where we can get Gore's name on the ballot without his signature. These include large and important states with a good chance of going for Gore, such as California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Virginia, New York (iffy since it's Hillary country), and others. We also hope to put pressure on the state party chairs in places like Florida to put Gore's name on the ballot. If we're successful, and we have every reason to think we will be in many of these states, we can cause some serious upset at the nominating convention, enough to make it so Hillary wouldn't get in on a first ballot. And if you can go to a second or even third ballot, then Gore has an excellent chance of being nominated.

And we believe he would accept a draft from the convention floor.

Oh yes, Earthmother!! I love that plan B.

About NY. Who knows, but the audience sure seemed to like Darrel Hammond playing Gore on SNL last night, though the sketch was a little lame, (Gore in is trophy room). He was also mentioned in Weekend Update.

Earthmother, that is very exciting. I am in NY and know there are MANY Gore supporters in WNY.

Wouldn't that be fantastic??

Yeah, the Democrats will probably blow a golden opportunity in 2008, as usual.

If Al Gore was certain that he would not run, he had a perfect opportunity to say so on Friday. He will decide soon, I think. And I am not giving up until I hear Gore say, "I have decided not to run, and I will endorse x instead."

Run, Al, Run! Let the people, not the corporations, not the media, not the beltway gasbags, decide who leads America! We elected you once, we will elect you again!!!

Please don't even think of Gore running in the VP spot. That's an insult.

I see no way that Gore would run as Hillary's VP. Face it, she's going to use Bill as her adviser and as the one sent out to do the VP's job. I think whoever is Hillary's VP will be just a figurehead.

Ballot initiative and delegate strategy- I believe you'll have lots of rank and file dems in the states who would strongly support this. The problem is getting past the state party controllers. Lots of them have drank the koolaid. Get past them and I think Hillary will be running scared. :good:

You seem to more dedicated to pushing your Plan B than to making Plan A happen.

Gore will never run as VP again. It is just unrealistic to think so.

Can someone explain the draft/delegate strtegies to me? Is the hope that Gore can be listed on enough state ballots to win a majority of the delegates and then for him to enter the race?; or is to get him the nomination wih him on the ballots but having never explicitly entered?

None of which will ever happen. It is unrealistic to even discuss.

If Gore was going to run for President he would do so as a Democrat. He is a life long and dedicated Dem and running as a Dem would give him the greatest chance for success. He would never run as an independent and particularly not with Michael Bloomberg, a man who ordered his police force to illegally detain anti-war and anti-Bush demonstrators in 2004 so they didn't embarass the man who stole the Presidency from Gore.

One question, Evan Bayh was one of the Dems who broke with the leadership and voted to extend the President's illegal wiretapping program.

After that do you really think Gore would have him as VP?

Now that is a Plan B that is realistic. :good:

What happens to planB if Gore endorses Obama, Edwards, Richardson or Kucinich?

Can't follow the logic on this.

Not running this time and thus allowing a pug victory could be the deathknell both for our form of government and for any hope of serious progress in countering the carbon crisis.

So opting not to run should be done on the premise that its "in the bag" for some dem and that dem will be friendly to Al's future efforts on the above two issues. That dem would be hoped to be successful, have an 8-year run.

Opting out this time with any expectation of running in 4 years is just illogical to me. The candle is burning. Opting out of running should be because there is a strong alternative course to address those two topics, and that running is perceived as threatening to hurt such efforts. That is, if running is thought to be a long shot, and antagonize the winner, then it could be a setback to the real goals if the winner is petulant.