Al Gore has been left out of the last two presidential straw polls because he hasn't shown any "confirmed interest" in running, in Kos's words. I would simply like to point out that while there has been no official statement from Gore (as there haven't been official statements from many), the media mentioned the possibility of a Gore run as early as February. Has everyone else on the poll given a personal, non-private statement on the subject of running (please let me know if they have, it's not rhetorical--I wasn't able to find more than speculation from a lot of people)?
On
The Chris Matthews Show, Howard Fineman of Newsweek said that he had been told of a private conversation about a Gore run in 2008.
Matthews: [...] Katrina, what are you hearing?
Ms. VANDEN HEUVEL: Hearing that he's talking to people about coming back. And you know, when you think last year when he worked with MoveOn, gave a series of really tough, very good speeches against the Bush administration, in a way he was preparing his comeback. But there is talk, and I think...
MATTHEWS: He was anti-war.
Ms. VANDEN HEUVEL: He wa--well, more than anti-war. He was anti-war, he was laying out the critique of the civil--of this administration on civil liberties, on environment, whole slew of things. And he attracted the generation that's come to Dean as well. Very Internet savvy, connected.
MATTHEWS: Mm-hmm.
Ms. VANDEN HEUVEL: I could see a Nix--Nixon scenario, by the way.
MATTHEWS: I can see that, too.
Ms. VANDEN HEUVEL: You know, Nixon goes around...
MATTHEWS: Howard, how goes...
Ms. VANDEN HEUVEL: ...to players in Congress.
MATTHEWS: ...the Nixon comeback scenario?
Mr. FINEMAN: Well, I talked to one of his closest advisers who told me he had had a long conversation.
MATTHEWS: On background or on the record?
Mr. FINEMAN: Well, the--the--the--the conversation is on background, but the guy said he'd spoken at length with Gore. And what Gore is saying is that the political winds are at his back, that he feels that the message and the tone the he, Al Gore, took in 2000, where he did that populous message, as he tried to put forth--and he got criticized for, was the right way to go. Not the DLC moderate, democratic way, but the full-throated populist way now makes sense and that's why the times have changed and the world or certainly the Democratic Party are ready for Al Gore. At least that's what he was saying to this very close adviser who, by the way, was taking him seriously. He wasn't laughing him off when they were discussing it.
Gore's campaign in 2000 had several missteps that almost cost him the election (and did cost him the presidency), but he has been a man of vision for many years. If he hadn't had the initiative to get funding for the creation of the Internet, who knows where Daily Kos would be today? If his sharp curiosity and quest for knowledge, combined with his strong sense of national defense (see Richard Clark's descriptions of his insights during the Clinton years), had been in the White House, who knows how or if we'd remember September, 11, 2001. Looking at the list of potential candidates, I can't see any with the potential for greatness that I see in Al Gore.
So I will continue to vote for "Other" in the hopes of a Gore announcement. If he says he won't run, I might just have to go for NFC for a while.