I see talk of the delegates giving the nomination to Gore continues.
My own guess is that this is mostly noise being made by the superdelegates to try to get the Clinton and Obama camps to stifle the acrimonious talk. Although there’s technically no reason this couldn’t happen, for a wide variety of reasons it’s almost inconceivable.
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Gore? Oh, please god, no!
Is it too late to ask Jed Bartlet to run?
Dean it cracks me up that you titled this post “President Gore.” Do you actually think Al Gore has a chance against John McCain? I mean “Nominee Gore” would have been as provocative and accurate without the giggle factor.
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Man, the brilliance at work in these people’s minds…
“So a large chunk of Senator Clinton’s supporters say that if we don’t choose Senator Clinton, they’ll be so pissed off, they’ll stay home. Or even vote for Senator McCain. They believe that if a man gets the nomination this time, a woman was robbed, as usual.
“And a large chunk of Senator Obama’s supporters say that if we don’t choose Senator Obama, they’ll be so pissed off, they’ll stay home. Or even vote for Senator McCain. They believe it’s time for a change from the same old pols.
“And voters on both sides — ESPECIALLY voters in Florida and Michigan — are pissed that we’re not living up to our ‘count every vote’ hustle.
“So let’s see… I know! Let’s piss them ALL off! Let’s count NONE of their votes, and nominate a man whose one of the same old pols.”
And I thought Republicans were the stupid party…
I remember about a year ago when Ali Eteraz started doing an examination of the health care proposals of Democratic Presidential candidates, and commented that Republicans had no chance to speak of of winning the Presidency in 2008 so he felt no need to even look at what Republican candidate proposals were. I told him that was a foolish thing to say, because anyone who wins either the Democratic or Republican nomination has a reasonable chance to win–anyone.
In the highly unlikely event that Gore were to come in as the surprise nominee of the Democratic Party, he would have a number of natural benefits. He’d be outside the war between Clinton and Obama, and might help heal that rift within the Democratic Party. Outside of Democratic circles, he could point to a recession and trouble abroad as proof that the Supreme Court wrongly “stole” the Presidency from him in 2000 and that this was an opportunity to go back to where we “should have been.” McCain’s status as a Vietnam vet would be somewhat eroded by the fact that Gore’s a vet too, whose record is not as impressive but is real nonetheless. He’s mellowed and is less stiff these days, and while he’s not much younger than McCain he looks and seems a lot younger.
More to the point, any delegate, “super” or not, would be asking whether or not Gore would be viable as both a candidate and a President. They’d be asked to imagine a President Gore. I suspect most Democratic delegates, being the party creatures they are, would think it so.
So I’m really not sure what you’re cracking up about. I wouldn’t vote for Gore, but that doesn’t mean anything to my analysis.
I’ve been guessing that the Dark Horse Gore Nomination stories are a trial balloon by Gore to see if the idea has legs. When I first saw it, I was extremely skeptical of it happening. But after seeing recent polls showing high percentages (in the 20-something range) of Hillary and Obama supporters saying they’d vote for McCain if the other candidate gets nominated, I’d say it’s starting to look not likely but plausible.
Gore’s path to the nomination is if a polling firm sees the Dark Horse Gore talk and starts running a version of the national democratic preference question that includes Gore, and Gore eventually takes the lead as the nominating electotorate sours on both candidates who are actually running. As I said, unlikely but plausible.
By the way, I take one thing back: Gore is about 12 years younger than McCain, which is more significant. Somehow I got it in my head that only 6 or 7 years separated them. Anyway…
I am really pretty sure that this talk of Gore is mostly an effort to get the two campaigns to simmer down. And, honestly, there’s been nowhere near as much acrimony between the Obama and Clinton campaigns as is often made out. The party elders just want to be sure it stays that way.
I can believe there’s not that much acrimony at the top.
Down in the trenches is another matter altogether.
Well, that’s more or less what I mean.
There have been primary nomination battles a heck of a lot more acrimonious than this. And what people say now about how they won’t vote for the other candidates doesn’t matter, it matters what they’ll be saying in October and especially in November.
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