[sub]I don’t want to there to be a lot of arguments about Gore’s fitness as a candidate, so I’m going to ask my fellow Republicans to sit this one out, ok? Someone else can start a thread to gloat or whatever.[/sub]
I think most of us have heard by now that Gore has decided not to run. That really surprised me, and it seems to have come to a shock to some people in his party as well, who are now pulling their hair over picking a new front runner.
So my question is this: how would you feel if he changes his mind some time in 2003? I know that would be unusual, but I’m sure that it can be done. Would you vote for him? Or would you vote for another Dem (or, I suppose Bush, but I doubt many would) for some reason, if so which reason or reasons?
My father had this same thought the moment I told him Gore was not running. He said that he would not be surprised if this was planned so that Gore could latter change his mind after an overwhelming “grassroots” movement to get him nominated forces his hand.
A bit too cynical for my taste, but maybe that is because I am still young.
I doubt it. I think it is possible he’d consider a run in 2008. But if he backtracked after an annoucement like this, he’d lose a lot of respect, which is important to him. And I doubt there’s going to be a groundswell of calls for him to run.
What I hope he does is remain visible within the party, challenging it to take some freakin’ stands and not being so damn timid.
I’ve been steadily drifting from the Democratic Party, but it’s still closer to what I agree with than the RNC or most of the smaller groups.
Personally, I think not running is the best thing Gore could do for the party, and I strongly hope he doesn’t change his mind. The man simply cannot win a national election. He ran in 1984 and was beaten by Walter Mondale. He ran in 1988 and was beaten by Dukakis. He chickened out in 1992 because he though Bush was unbeatable. He won the nomination in 2000 by running completely unopposed and then lost the big game. If he were to run again and be nominated, I’d go over to the Libertarians.
Well, he already won the 2000 election, so I don’t see why he can’t win in 2004, do you?
I think that what happened here is that he talked with Lieberman and they decided that Joe would make the better candidate. If that’s the case and Lieberman does run, then Gore won’t be coming back.
I would vote for him but only because I’ve watched his voting record for many, many years. The stiff persona is one that seemed to develop after he became the VP – but I think it’s here to stay.
It pissed me off when he hired an image consultant. That was lame.
All in all, I’d rather see Tipper run.
I will probably vote Green this next election. But I have probably voted for my last two white men.
I was a little suspicious when he said emphatically that he would not run for President in 2004, which sounds a little too specific and suggests he might run for other office (will his old Senate seat come open in 2004?) and President in 2008.
Either that, or come 2004 he’ll be saying “Well, it depends on what ‘not’ means.”
Nixon lost and gave his famous “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore” speech. Then, in '68, he was back and won back to back.
Gore will be back. Maybe not in 2004, but he’ll be back. He’s had a little taste of it and, like so many things in life, once you’ve had a little taste you’ll damn near kill to taste it again.
Well, I’m registered as independant, but I’m pretty liberal, so I hope I’m allowed in this thread.
I don’t think Gore’ll be back for '04, though he may run after that. If he did, by some miracle, change his mind, I doubt he’d get the nomination. Even if he hadn’t pulled out, I think he’d have a pretty slim chance for a seconfd chance from the party.
This time around, I’d expect to see Lieberman (if he runs) or Kerry get the nomination.
Hmmmm? Since when does losing every single count and re-count in the decisive state constitute winning and election?
I agree with earlier posts…He doesn’t have what it takes to win a national election. He would do his party a big favor by bowing out for good…not just in 2004. The only thing worse than Gore running would be for Hillary to throw her hat in…God help us all!
I hope he doesn’t change his mind. I think we need someone who can truly rally and excite democrats and independents next time, and Al Gore just isn’t that person. I’m excited about the possibility of John Kerry (MA) running.
Nope. Sorry. He’s not the one. Won’t get my vote. Nope. Nope, nope,nope. Of course…if he was to win the primary, I’d probably vote for him in the General.
Somebody, I think Sam Stone, posted an analysis in GD that I think cuts right to the heart of the issue. I’m going to shamelessly rip some of it off here.
Gore not running is a great decision.
First, he’s right that a rematch between him and Bush in 2004 would mostly be about history – “looking back instead of looking forward.” It wouldn’t be good for him, it wouldn’t be good for the country, it wouldn’t be good for anybody.
But this way, he <1> gets to project a statesmanlike image, instead of the greedy entitlement-type politico he got tarred as; <2> gets to sit and snipe at Bush from the sidelines (note the savage shots at Lott provided for him by the Saturday Night Live writers; he couldn’t get away with that if he were a legitimate candidate), which is a much more effective role both for him and for his political message in general; and <3> preserves the possibility of being “recruited” in 2008 as the wise party elder.
I think it’s a great choice, and I’m impressed he had the smarts and the balls to do it.
I am relieved he isn’t running. Yes, I probably would have voted for him again, but I think he realizes his momentum is gone.
(My prediction is Howard Dean of Vermont will pull the nomination off.)
But could Gore change his mind? Of course…if the party cannot seem to settle on one person, if there really is a “ground swell” from the party, if there is a last minute scandal or death of the frontrunner (see Walter Mondale in last election). There are a lot of scenarios where he could pop back into the picture - who knows, maybe even as a VP candidate again. But as far as just changing his mind in a month or two - no.
Uh, you do realize that any major party presidential candidate is going to have at least one image consultant, right? Usually the media just doesn’t report on it.
Since the greatest number of people who went into a voting booth in Florida (and in the entire United States) did so with the intention of voting for Gore.
Ok, I concede that he may have won the national popular vote, but by the presidental election system the United States has in place he LOST the election because he failed to get a majority of the electoral college. Maybe you don’t like that system, but that is the system we use and no matter how you look at it he lost. Winning the popular vote sounds good, but means nothing if you fail to win the right states. By the way…How in the hell can you say that the majority of people that went into voting booths in Florida had the “intention of voting for Gore” when he never came out in the lead in any of the numerous counts (machine counts, hand counts, machine re-counts, hand re-counts, etc.) that were done. Not one…not a single one…period. I know that this is a tangent, but I am just trying to make the point that Gore could not get the job done in a national election. He couldn’t even win his own state for crying out loud! When Gore announced he wasn’t running the Democratic party should have been celebrating and rallying like they (tastlessly) did at the funeral services of a certain Senator. Gore did his party a huge favor by getting out of the way!
I figure he’ll be persuaded by the Dem. Party to run again with Bill C. as his VP running mate and they’d win too! I’d vote for them before I would another Bush.
Besides, we’ve got a few more Bush’s left that can run later.
I do not understand this. Who really believes that this country is so completely free of anti-semitism that a Jew, and a seriously religious Jew at that, could get elected President? Against Bush?
I don’t actually personally know any anti-semites, but all my Jewish friends assure me that hatred of Jews is alive and well and spread throughout the land.