The result was soon realized. Republican primaries were not countered by Dems on the airwaves/media. People only heard Republican anti-Democrat, anti-Gore arguments. Media had no reason to cover Al Gore, he was in no races.
Democrats quickly, maybe not so quickly, rustled up a sacrificial opponent for Al Gorbashchev, Senator Bill Bradley, and got plenty of air time thereafter.
Bernie, or some other egotist, will probably be conjured up so the Socialists get plenty of primary air time.
yitbos
What Gore did to him was criminal, its been alleged for years (and to this day), that Gore essentially cheated in New Hampshire to beat Bradley, basically killing Bradley campaign at that point.
There debates were also vicious, as Gore basically called Bradley a racist and implied that Bradley was responsible for racial profiling in New Jersey (the most common phrase uttered by Bradley during said debate was "Thats not true Al"). Bradley also announced his run before Gore did (not that it mattered, everyone knew Gore was running).