Al Gore Is Running For President

I didn't catch the Larry King Live Interview last night, but I was just reading a Chicago Tribune Blog and there's no doubt.

Al Gore will be a candidate for President in 2008.

When asked to make a Sherman statement:

"Look, I'm not inviting such questions. I appreciate such questions,'' Gore said on CNN's Larry King Live last night. "I am not thinking about being a candidate, I have no plans to be a candidate, but yes it's true, I have not made a so-called Sherman statement and ruled it out for all time. I see no reason to do that.''

Gore doesn't want an endless Presidential campaign:

"I'm one of those who doesn’t like to see the Christmas goods put in the stores right after Halloween,'' Gore told King. "I don’t think Americans are well-served by having an endless campaign... Why close up the field and say, 'OK, place your bets.' I don’t have to play that game.''

Gore ruled out serving in a cabinet post:

He was willing to flatly rule out one thing, however: The prospect of serving as secretary of state or in some other Cabinet post for a new president. "No,'' Gore said. "I have zero interest'' in that.

Gore not phased by loyalty to Clinton's on '08 run:

"I feel loyal to Bill Clinton, but that has nothing to do with my thinking about not being a candidate,'' Gore said to a question about New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy for '08. "She is running a very forceful campaign,'' Gore said, dancing carefully around any sort of endorsement for the former boss' wife. "It's way early to assess how these candidates are shaping up.''

Gore defends Carter:

Asked about Carter's own declaration about the Bush administration, since qualified, Gore said: "He has earned the right to say what he thinks and let the chips fall where they will... As to whether or not he later decided that was a breach of protocol with former presidents... I'm for him saying whatever he wants to.''

Gore defends Congress:

"It's like taking the wheel of the car in the middle of a skid... We're already in serious trouble, headed for worse,'' he said. "They have created this situation where there are really no good choices. We have to choose the least worst choice,'' said Gore, calling for a removal of U.S. troops "as soon as possible'' while honoring "a moral obligation not to make a terrible situation even worse in the manner of our leaving.''

What would Gore do as President in '09:

"I would grab hold of the situation and make an immediate assessment of what the best options were to manage this situation,'' he said, asked how he would confront the problem if he were becoming president in January 2009.