The Planet is in the balance!
Posted on 12/14/2002 7:41:07 AM PST by chiller
Gore ready to abandon his White House dream By Toby Harnden in Washington (Filed: 13/12/2002)
Al Gore, the defeated presidential candidate in 2000, has indicated to friends he is to abandon the quest to become president that his domineering father urged on him as a child.
After a political career dominated by an all-consuming ambition to reach the White House, Mr Gore's expected withdrawal from the 2004 race for the Democratic nomination would mark a decision of tragic proportions for the former vice-president.
Several of Mr Gore's closest friends told The New York Times that he was inclined to retire to a private life of teaching and writing and had stopped cultivating the big-money donors and political kingmakers needed for another presidential run.
"He certainly has the energy and appetite to do it," one friend said, "but if there's someone else who would really carry the mantle and really be who the party wants, then he's not going to stand in the way of that."
The decision to step aside for a new Democratic face would be a recognition that he would have little chance of defeating President George W Bush in two years' time, even though he won the popular vote two years ago.
Polls in the key primary state of New Hampshire have shown that Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts has an early lead among Democratic candidates.
Over recent weeks, Mr Gore, who has shed some of the weight he put on after his defeat and shaved off the wispy beard he grew in the political wilderness, has been on a high-profile nationwide book tour.
In scores of interviews, he has offered opinions on virtually every political issue of the day but his return to the spotlight has received a lukewarm reception.
Friends have said he is concerned about "the baggage he has with the media" and is said to have been distressed by press comment that he is reinventing himself once again in preparation for a presidential run.
Pulling out next month - when he has promised to make a public statement about 2004 - would avoid the ultimate humiliation of being rejected by his own party in his bid for a rematch with Mr Bush.
Although Mr Gore is intelligent, experienced and has a formidable grasp of policy, he has never been able to shake off the image of being calculating, condescending and willing to shift his stance on any issue for political advantage.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Too bad...I'd like him in the race, primaries at least.
The Planet is in the balance!
No, that was just Tipper...
Actually I think these guys told Al thanks but no thanks.
albagore the robotic tuna is hosting Saturday Night Live, TONIGHT !! Golden opportunity NY, NJ, CT Freeper Pings)))))))
Images are easier to shake off when they're not actually true. Sorta like ol' Trent is starting to discover...
Hillary is finally washing that black pants-suit... and she's taking sponge-baths once a week.
VP sounds OK to her! HA!
Oh, you mean he lies. That is indeed curious. Toby Harnden, the author of this article, must have had a tear in his eye when he wrote it. *Sniff* we'll miss ya, Al, *sob* ya big exaggerator. "If I had to do it all over again, I'd just let it rip," [Gore] told a party gathering in Memphis. "To hell with the pollsters, the consultants and all the rest." How we would have loved to see you just let it rip. Will someone pass the kleenix? *Sniff* now who are they going to send out to be the sacrificial lamb?
Sometimes the jokes just write themselves.
I don't think so. This is the 3rd of 4th article on these "close friends" of Gore I've read this week.
I still think they are starting a whisper campaign to discourage him from running. Quitting just doesn't sound like Gore. He wants the Presidency too much and he thinks he deserves it. He is also too stupid to realize people don't like him.
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