I am not a fan of Al Gore’s. Never have been. Could not wait to vote against him in the 1988 New York primary. But, as I said last March, he has the best chance to win the presidency in 2008 of any candidate in either party.
I mention this again now because my sense is, despite the recent announcements from senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, Gov. Bill Richardson and others, this dynamic has not changed. In fact, an announcement yesterday may have improved Gore’s chances:
Former Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry took himself out of the running for president in 2008, choosing instead to devote his energies to ending the Iraq war. Call me crazy, but Al Gore’s prospects just got even better than before. If he doesn’t announce soon I’ll eat my hat
What has Gore got that the others don’t? A record. He was right about the war in Iraq, right about global warming, right that Bush would raid the Social Security “lock box” and on and on. Unlike John Kerry in 2004, Gore won the popular vote in 2000. All things being equal, it’s hard to see how Gore couldn’t carry every state Kerry took plus Ohio (and maybe even Tennessee).
His biggest challenge is that — like me — the “liberal media” hordes don’t like him. Yet, it’s also possible to imagine that some of them may feel chastened enough by the undue respect they gave the aristocratic boor they helped elect in 2000 and 2004 to give Al Gore a second look.
Plus, Gore has beome a lot feistier in his time out of office. He’s given himself the freedom to speak more candidly — to avoid the courtly hemming and hawing he learned in the Senate and that made him appear so wooden in his appearances as vice president and as a candidate in 2000.
All that seems to be missing right now is the proverbial fire in his belly.
