Also, how late is "too late" for him to enter the race, especially with Barack Obama's eye-popping fundraising numbers?

how this inspirational post is "complaining," since according to him, that's 90% of what blogging's all about.  Whoops, I guess this comment in and of itself is "complaining" - about "novamiddleman!"  How appropriate...or is it ironic? :)

I hope he announced during Live Earth concert (I mean what better venue, what better date, every democrat in america tuned in, totally sucking the O2 out of Fred Thompson's announcement a day or two later).  If he doesn't pick that date I think he will announce sometime in November, perhaps at the end of huricane season.  His work in Google (he was on the board pre-ipo) and Apple have probably netted him several hundred million in stock the last few years all of which he could put into kicking off a run.

Do you actually think Hillary will pass the baton to Gore?  Will  Hillary sit for VP?  Or will Gore sit for VP?

The race get interesting..............

Consider the insulting and stressful attacks during his run for the presidency, and the concentrated bile vomited up against his every effort since (like his film, his new book)--- as if the republicans felt they had to keep smearing Gore knowing he'd be a formidible opponent, so do a preemptive strike in advance. After all that, what could persuade him to subject himself and his family to the cauldron of fire once more? I can think that only one thing would bring him back: a conviction that his country needs him.

AS I was driving home just now I'd been thinking that if Senator Clinton and Governor Romney get the nominations, I would not vote for the first time in my 60 years. This would be a matter of conscience, but not of passivity, because I would then send my meager efforts elsewhere; there are always new paths in nature when old ones fail. Here in northern New England, many feel the same. It would be a personal acknowledgement, feeling or belief that federalism as we have understood it in New England since 1865 has run its course. I would hope then for a third party or even a regional party, as regionalism may be our destiny if federalism fails. I see that as the stakes in this election and they haven't been higher since 1865. I read Dave Montoya's commentary on DKos and was entirely sympathetic with it. But there is still time. The Democrats have sound and moral politicians, especially in Virginia. Al and Tipper Gore are very good people as well. All of these - the best among us - must be coaxed to come forward now.

Contact Al and Tipper Gore:

Honorable Al Gore

2100 West End Avenue

Suite 620 Nashville, TN 37203

To submit a scheduling request for Vice President Gore, please fax your request to the number below or send your request via snail mail. You may also call for information.

Fax: 615-327-1323
Phone: 615-327-2227

Here are some unofficial websites of volunteers who want Gore to run:

http://www.algore.or...

http://www.draftgore...

http://algoresupport...

Gore's Inconvenient Truth website:

http://www.climatecr...

Bernie, while I also would love to see Al Gore run, I have to take strong issue with the idea that any Democrat should refrain from voting just because their nominee is imperfect (in this case, Hillary).

If only a few hundred Democratic voters had not stayed home or voted Nader in 2000, just think how much suffering and death could have been avoided in in Iraq especially, but also New Orleans; think how much farther we would be now on facing the disastrous threat of global warming; think how much higher world opinion of the U.S. would be today. 

We can't afford to sit on our hands again -- the last 7 years have proven that we have a moral obligation to support the better candidate even if they aren't the perfect candidate.

I would be happy with these three and many,many others like Kathleen Sebelius, Mark Warner, Wes Clark, but the Clintons are not ethical people and never have been. This Libby episode brings first to mind the million dollar bribe Bill Clinton readily accepted from Marc Rich to let him out of jail. Some of the more responsible Democrats at the time considered it the high-water mark of political corruption; now he has the utter arrogance to send his wife up for office. AS Carl Bernstein said in his new book on Senator Clinton, her husband is still 17 years old.

for office? Like, maybe SHE did not decided to run for herself? You were doing fine until you got to that point, and there I must call you on it. I have an opinion about Clinton (I was a Republican still in those days) but even so I warn you, do not underestimate Hillary. She is by no means a creature of Bill alone, a cardboard substitute for him or his ego. Not only is that insulting, it seriously under-estimates her, and smacks of republicanism.

She's in this for herself, guys.

especially for the s-mail address. I think I shall write, even though it's not my habit to communicate directly with high muckety-mucks; usually, I express myself with my pocketbook.

But, for me, the "case of Gore" is different. I grew up in an environment where, as my mother explained, "I could vote, but not elect" -- the "electeds" were pre-determined by the communist party. After I came here and once I got my citizenship, I did vote -- my husband said it was an obligation as much as a priviledge -- and, usually, voted Dem. But it had always, always, been "the lesser evil", not "my heart's desire".

Until 2000 and Gore.

I don't watch TV and I must have missed all the frou-frou -- about Gore being dull, not fashion-conscious etc -- in the newspapers. All I saw was a man who was intelligent, literate, caring, serious, insightful. And with a wife to match :) Actually, I "noticed" both of them even during the Clinton's presidency, but all those things which had been barely on the horizon, became crystal clear when he entered the race. I thought he made a mistake in distancing himself from Clinton during the campaign and thought it would him in the a** but I hoped, with all the hope I thought had been trained out of me, that he'd overcome that... and win.

I had never got over the loss of that hope and my bitterness only got worse with every public appearance he made -- books, talks, etc -- and with every indignity that the Ventriloquist and his Dummy visited, in the past 6+ yrs, on this adopted country of mine. I'm very reluctant to hope again, but, if there's any way Gore could be persuaded to run, I'd be happier than a pig in slops.

If there there was any reason at all for people to criticize the netroots this is it. Gore is never going to get into this race.

The comment that he would wait till November is especially STUPID. Iowa is about 2 months from then. No way in hell he gets in, builds an organization and siphons off enough votes from Clinton, Edwards or Obama to pull that off in the early states.

It is this kind of pie in the sky, hyper idealistic shit that causes people to dismiss progressives as a bunch of loonies.

And for those of you who love Gore, as I do, for his work on environmental issues...His running will be like Nader running in 2000. It will destroy everything he has worked for to engage in such an overtly political activity. It will give those who might otherwise join us in our efforts to preserve our planet a reason to doubt his and our sincerity.

If we all want to go to a new age guru hippie and start throwing around words like transcendence and totally alienate the ordinary non-acid tripped people among us then we should engage in this type of speculation and intellectual gaming.

But those of us out here who have been slogging away in the trenches, taking blow after blow, enduring the bloody lips and bruised knuckles of hand to hand fights with the forces of darkness AKA the GOP, there can be no such luxury.

We have a few good candidates already. Obama may yet prove to have the sharp elbows and blood in his eyes needed to beat the nominee of darkness. Clinton surely has the cold and bloodless determination needed. Edwards will never ever ever ever stop fighting or ever back down. So what the hell are we doing talking about Al Gore. His fight is on a different battlefield, and I will gladly fight that one with him. It is not on the presidential battlefield.

It is time to stop fucking around people. Pick your candidate, whoever that may be, and get them the nomination. Then lets beat the ever lovin piss out of these people who have fucked with our freedoms and our country.

I may be overly vicious here but this isn't fucking sunday school. Have you all been reading the Supreme Court decisions at all lately. WE CANNOT LOSE THIS NEXT ELECTION.

but I think you're underestimating the American thirst for drama and redemption.  Gore could absolutely take Iowa if he jumped in two months beforehand.  I'd bet thousands of dollars on that.

But I really hope he doesn't.  Which is quite a change for me. 

I think Gore is doing something more important than the American presidency, right now.  And if he were to become president, he couldn't continue it.  I think he's perfect where he is, and I hope he stays there for a long time.

Although kathy writes an eloquent diary, I seem to agree with you that we can waste no time on "what could have been" and "what probably will never be".  Politics is raw, cut throat, and not for the weak of spirit.  Democrats, who by nature are compassionate, need desperately to grasp these very bitter but realistic and essential facts about running for office and operating a political campaign. At this point, wasting time opining about the candidates is illusory, alarming, and incredibly perilous. 

DEMOCRATS:  Wake up, smell the coffee, and, like Willie said, READ THE SUPREME COURT DECISIONS.  They affect your life, the life of your children, YOUR FREEDOMS AND YOUR SECURITY.  Just use your imagination, based on this ultra-conservative Supreme Court, to foresee what else will be down the road for this country if Democrats lose again. 

We've got plenty of time to select our nominee.  Right now, let's focus on taking back the State Senate here in Virginia, and picking up as many seats as possible in the House of Delegates.  That's urgent and important.  The 2008 Presidential race is important, but our participation, frankly, is not urgent.  I mean, it's not like the Virginia primary's going to matter, in all likelihood. And it's not like our $50 or $100 to Obama, Clinton, or Edwards is going to make our break their candidacies at this point.  Personally, I'm going to focus on Virginia and make a decision on 2008 after the election in November 2007.

We have just over 4 months to help the strongest slate of candidates we Va. Dems have had in decades. We have the winds of change at our back and our counterparts working hard to screw up everything they seem to touch. Those of us who don't have money to give are giving time and expertise. Even when the campaign staff of many of our candidates are younger than our own kids, we have to give them the efforts that will make them trust us as team players not just frustrated pseudo parent "Know it alls"..... Reciprocatively (is that a word?) the young fire balls on the campaign staffs need to recognize the old timers for their wisdom and experience. "Been There, Done That!!!" has definite meaning in politics or any volunteer/paid-staffer situation.

If the Webb campaign was a "Long-shot" as everybody including Jim recognizes, we have a slightly less difficult philosophically, but definitely still up hill battle to get back the State Senate and House before the 2010 redistricting screws us for another ten years. Even if our Dem hope-to-be "elected's" put in place a non-partisan redistricting system, that will be a big win against the unfair and corrupt incumbent favoring system we have today. A system that has stifled support and progress in transportation and energy issues along with MANY others..

WE are at ?T minus 4 months and counting? to one hell of a party if we can pull this off?

How can anyone not recognize that Gore can easily win the "Nobel Peace Prize", the nomination, and the presidency in the same 24 month period???..... and you know he has earned it !!!! If he enters, all the rest are competing for VP.

While we all want to fight for our choice for the presidential nomination. There are still some fights that need to be fought now.

I can think of several races that could use some attention. Like Briner in Roanoke against Ralph Smith, who is a total nutjob. Or Adam Tomer in Danville. And lets not forget what defeating the Davis machine with Chap Peterson would mean for Democratic morale.

These statehouse seat are the path to building our party and where Democrats should be working to win.  All this talk about Obama, Hillary and Edwards is fine, but it's just fun talking politcs.  The city council seats and statehouse seats are the ones we need to win.  That's how the Republicans held power all those years.

Bernie, as for not voting.  I think it's a recipe for disaster.  You should have learn that during the Gore election.  I still blame the Nader voters for that one.  Nader, a man with an ego big enough to fill Yankee Stadium, knowing he had no chance and knowing how close the race was, chose to hand the win to Bush in some misguided effort to teach Democrats to pay more attention to progressive ideals.  Here's what this Democrat learned:  Be wary of someone who won't support our party as they just might screw you when you need them, no matter what they call themselves, Greens or Progressives or whatever.  The name changes but the attitude remains. Funny, I can't find one person who voted for Nader in from Florida.  No Nader voter wanted to admit to that one.  I'd hide my head too if I'd help elect the man who started the Iraq War.  I won't ever forget this betrayal.  As far as I'm concerned Ralph Nader has blood on his hands too. 

Do you see any differnce between Republicans and Democrats now, Ralph?  Of course he doesn't.  I saw him on TV the other night blowing his his same moronic bullshit.  Watching him, I couldn't believe anyone with a brain stem could actually take that guy seriously.  He's just another mindless slogan quoter.  Hell, I know twenty courthouse bums back in Eastern Kentucky with a better understand of foreign policy that Nader.  Give me a break.

We need to get under the Democratic flag and vote together for the candidate who wins the primary.  Anything else is just dull-witted.  How many elections do we have to lose before these guys wise up.  If nothing else we should have learned every vote is really important and we have to win decisively.  Karl Rove's motto is, "get me close and I'll win it for you."  No hollow promise.  Rove can win the close ones and we don't have a Rove, so we need party unity. 

Bernie, get up on election day and take one for the team. Just vote the straight Democratic ticket and live with it. We don't always get what we want in elections.  I wanted Jim Webb to run, but he had better sense, but I'm still gonna pull the lever under the Donkey.  I'm tired of losing. Democracy is, at best, an imperfect science and you just can't quit and take your ball home when you don't get your way. 

Although the spellings are different, the noun describes the effect that Nader had on the 2000 election and would have if he, in his self-important manner, enters the race in 2008. Those fools that chose to throw away their vote by voting for him in 2000, are simply that...simpleton fools.

Nader's arrogance, egotism, and condescension are obnoxious and disgusting.

Though we do have the capacity to dual-track both thinking about our nominee and encouraging our favorite to run (or support him/her if s/he is already in the race), there is a November election.

But caring about both is perfectly doable.  I do agree with Lowell that there is plenty of time to get involved in the presidentials (and for a well-known candidate to enter the race).

I also disagree with the inclination of a few to abstain from voting in 2008, much though possible discouragement might tempt.  Much as I have strong feelings about the candidate pool, you will not find me sitting on the sidelines on election day.

Yep,the Supremes and their odious decisions make me sick.  And, where court appointments are concerned) any currently announced Dem would be better than any Repug.  But for other matters, it really does make a difference who gets the nomination.  So, trying to get us to close ranks now is really premature, I think. I am mystified at why some want to close off the  discussion.  Could it be they have their own vested interests (maybe their own selections for the nomination?)

Surely we can agree that we should respect each others choices and preferences.  And I shall try hard to respect those with whom I disagree.

I had enough typos to qualify for being moronic myself in my last comment.  I must preview. I must preview. I must preview.
My apologies for the unreadable parts.  Too late to be posting after a very long day.

I think the younger Al Gore's arrest on drug charges on July 4th came at a crucially bad time if he had any aspirations for 2008.  My guess is that the elder Al Gore is going to disappear a little from the scene with Tipper and help his clearly troubled 24 year old son.  This is a young man who is going to need his family's support to get better and he's not going to get better overnight.