UPDATE:
On 9/22, Markos posted a straw poll that pitted four leading contenders (taken from an earlier poll from 9/20) against Gore. As you can see for yourself at this
link, Gore pulled away from the rest of the field with an impressive 48% of the vote:
The original diary follows.
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In his monthly dKos (non-"fantasy") straw
polls, Markos has so far not included (Vice) President Al Gore as a possible candidate, which is quite unfortunate since although Gore has not announced his interest in running as of today, he has
NOT categorically ruled out a 2008 run either.
After writing the diary, because of the way it came out, I have decied to go ahead and make this my first open letter, a warm-up clarion call if you will, to (Vice) President Al Gore to make a run in 2008. And, hence, the title of this diary.
Given:
- Gore's selfless efforts to help Katrina victims,
- his incredible speeches from 2002-2004,
- his impeccable and near-perfect credentials: 8 years each as: US Representative, Senator, and Vice President (Gore's congressional biography)
- his popular vote victory in 2000, and what most of us believe to have been an electoral college victory as well,
- his unequivocal support for Dean in 2004 primaries, and hence his endorsement of a Commonsense Progressive Vision for America,
- his passion for the environment (his recent
speech, and his book
Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit, and his recent, 9/9/05
speech at the SierraSummit 2005),
- his decency and humanity (as evidenced by his Katrina relief efforts and those that apparently existed under the radar screen before),
- his well-deserved and well-earned image as a good family man,
Gore is clearly the best-suited, best-qualified, and an utmost worthy person to carry the mantle of the President of the United States!
Then, Gore is pulling a respectable second in many state-wide polls such as these strategic vision
polls. And his support among netroots is seemingly quite
strong as well (see the poll by MSO linked below too). Not too bad for someone not pursuing active politics at the moment.
That brings us to Markos's straw polls. Why is it important to be included in this list?
- daily Kos is THE leading liberal/progressive blog, by far, and the opinion expressed here does reverberate around political circles.
- Since the netroots are an increasingly powerful force in politics, a strong showing here should therefore figure into to any candidate's calculations of her/his chances of winning. Presumably, Al Gore will likely not run (and he shouldn't, IMO) unless he sees his odds of getting the nomination to be reasonably high.
- There are apparently thousands of Gore supporters that are part of the daily Kos community, and they appear to be passionate about seeing a Gore'2008 run. Evidence is here is this MSO's poll, where Gore pulled in about 63% positive responses, and in the fact that jj32's diary reached the top of the recommended list in a matter of half-an-hour, not to mention the thousands of positive comments that one routinely spots here. Not allowing these valued members to express support for their choice of a candidate is really not very fair, Markos!
And so, these are the reasons why I am posting this poll, and this diary. Please express your support (or otherwise) towards a 2008 run by Al Gore by participating in the poll, and I hope that Kos will hear our calling and include Gore in his straw polls from September onwards!
Thanks for reading and voting! And thanks in advance for recommending this diary, if you choose to do so.
Finally, if you are reading this, Mr. Vice President, your country and your planet are calling on you:
The Earth's in Peril, Mr. Vice President!
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Credit: It appears reasonable to credit the 2004 Presidential Campaign of Governor Howard Dean with the ideology Commonsense Progressive Vision for America, although some if its roots do go back to Thomas Jefferson, FDR, Tom Paine, and of course, to the Clinton/Gore administration as well.
Image sources:
- the "Gore, President 2008" image is courtesy of Maryscott O'Connor (please visit and join her wonderful blog My Left Wing!)
- the first Katrina relief site image is from algore-08.com, while the second is from this link.
- the Earthday image is from GWU's website: link
- other images are from this fabulous wiki page on Al Gore: link. Well worth a visit and the time spent reading it.
- all images have been hosted at tinypic.com. My thanks to them for providing this very useful free service.
Gore 2008 Links:
Update 1 (9/10/2005) :
- Gore 2008 links section with two links posted.
- link to his 9/9/05
speech at the the SierraSummit 2005 added.
Please revisit this diary from time to time, as this "clarion call" diary will be a work-in-progress with updates as and when I find new information that is relevant.