It is with a very great reluctance and regret that I must acknowledge that our effort to place Albert Gore Jr. on the California Presidential Primary and other state ballots is over, we have been asked to stop.
This request comes to us...
PRESS RELEASE BELOW>>>
Apparently from Mr. Gore's staff, directly in a phone call to Mr. Roy Gayhart, who is our California State Coordinator. At this point no names are being used, and most likely won't be, but I have pretty good idea how high up the food chain it would have to be to convince Roy to ask us to quit...
California4Gore has raised over $32,000.00 in the last week, on Act Blue, from 500 contributors to insure his placement on the ballot by hiring some progressive type petition pros to fill in blanks in rural areas and to provide a cushion needed for a petition drive by volunteers which would have an error/invalidation rate of over 30%... If we had continued this would have happened, of that I have no doubt, this wasn't our first rodeo.
I have been advocating Mr. Gore's candidacy for several years, my first post to this group back on 4/20/06 was entitled "Al Gore will be the consensus candidate for President in 2008" and it is one of hundreds of posts and comments you can find plastered all over the Internet that I have authored in the last few years... I still believe he will be the nominee, although that belief will be sorely tested between now and Denver...
Due to my myopic outlook, I really can't say that there is another candidate for whom I could work as hard as I have these last few weeks... But I don't regret the effort and I will always be proud of it... And very proud of all the others who have come forth, to all of you a heartfelt thanks. I want to thank Howard Dean for showin' us how, back in 2003, we'll be back... As I told Mr. Gore in that millisecond I had with him as he signed my book in Marin, back in May for the Assault on Reason tour...
"I'm Dallas112263 and I am very persistent...".
Maybe I'll go fishin'... I think there are two more days left in the trout season on the North Fork of the Yuba, in any event I could always troll for Budweisers at the St Charles Saloon in Downieville and swap lies with the gold panners, who are always liars... If they got it, they're quiet and broke... If they don't, they're all mouth...
Oh, and I want to thank Al Gore, I don't begrudge his choice, recently there has been a lot of talk comparing 2008 to 1968 and a book by that fellow from NBC, Tom Brokaw, Keith ran a segment on it the other day... Maybe he has a point, I note that a Mayor Daley again rules in Chicago, a Mr. Hoffa is again head of the Teamsters, we are mired in an unpopular war and "led" by a lame duck President who won't be on the ballot... There are other points of comparison but I have taken us down memory lane only to point out that the late entering Democratic candidate in 1968 didn't make it to the Convention, he was assassinated just few months after a Noble Laureate, who was leading a popular but controversial movement, was also shot and killed. So in any event you can't blame someone for not placing themselves in harm's way, if he announced he would embody both the potential promise and the risks of both Robert Francis Kennedy and Martin Luther King and his goals are no less radical or threatening to the status quo...
Thanks all, I'll be back...
RG Johnson
Dallas112263
Below is the Press Release...
California Draft Gore Halts Activities
Campaign to Put Al Gore on California Ballot Ends
SACRAMENTO, CA (PRNewswire) November 13, 2007 – Organizers of a California Draft Gore, a grassroots statewide campaign to put Al Gore’s name on the California presidential primary ballot announced today that it is halting its activities.
"We have recently received a communication from a member of Al Gore’s staff discouraging any efforts to put Al Gore’s name on the primary ballot," stated Roy Gayhart, organizer for the statewide campaign. "Accordingly, effectively immediately, we have ceased our signature collection and related fund raising activities."
More than 1,000 Californians had volunteered to collect signatures ballot across the state to qualify Al Gore’s name to be placed on the February 5, 2008 presidential primary. The California Election Code allows for a candidate’s name to be placed on the ballot if at least 500 registered Democrats’ signatures are obtained from each of the state’s congressional districts during the period from October 8th until December 4th.
"We were doing well collecting signatures in the urban districts and were behind in some of the rural districts," said Gayhart. "We had raised money to hire professional petition circulators to help us close out the rural districts when we received the communication. With three weeks to go, we were confident of succeeding."
Many of the Gore volunteers spoke of the experience of finding so much support for Al Gore throughout California. "It was remarkable to watch hundreds of people smile and without saying a word sign a nomination paper to place Al Gore's name on our state's primary ballot," stated Suzanne Harris, a campaign coordinator from Los Angeles. "They got it."
Others shared the significance of what the California campaign has meant. Susan Rowe, a coordinator from Coarsegold perhaps said it best, "Over the past several months California Draft Gore and the national draft Gore movement has become a force to be reckoned with. The other presidential candidates need to shift their message on climate protection. None of them has yet come close to embracing the position that must be adopted in order slow down global warming. We must preserve and protect our nation and our planet for the future generations to come." Marta Jorgensen, a coordinator from Solvang added, "We have created the foundation for a new political movement, one that is not based on the old ideology of yesterday, but on how the world is today."
About California Draft Gore:
California Draft Gore is a grassroots organization. The organization and its website is not affiliated with or authorized by Al Gore, any candidate or candidate’s committee.
Contact:
Roy Gayhart
roy@california4gore.org