2008 Gore/Obama ‘08
posted by on March 27 at 13:41 PM
Joe Klein in Time…
Let’s say the elders of the Democratic Party decide, when the primaries end, that neither Obama nor Clinton is viable. Let’s also assume—and this may be a real stretch—that such elders are strong and smart enough to act. All they’d have to do would be to convince a significant fraction of their superdelegate friends, maybe fewer than 100, to announce that they were taking a pass on the first ballot at the Denver convention, which would deny the 2,025 votes necessary to Obama or Clinton. What if they then approached Gore and asked him to be the nominee, for the good of the party—and suggested that he take Obama as his running mate? Of course, Obama would have to be a party to the deal and bring his 1,900 or so delegates along.I played out that scenario with about a dozen prominent Democrats recently, from various sectors of the party, including both Obama and Clinton partisans. Most said it was extremely unlikely … and a pretty interesting idea. A prominent fund raiser told me, “Gore-Obama is the ticket a lot of people wanted in the first place.”
Stop it with the Gore dreaming, it's unbecoming. Gore isn't gonna get the nom, and I don't think he would win if he did.
Yawn - never happen - after reading this, have to suggest less drinking at the desk.
Every democrat in America has come up with many combinations. It won't be Gore.
If we are going to play "What if", how about Brad Pitt and Obama?
I like the zombie FDR idea . . . any progress on that?
What is this fascination with Gore? He's a multiple presidential loser. No one wants to see him running anymore than they want the Buffalo Bills in the Superbowl.
Enough, he's old news.
So after we screw the voters of Florida and Michigan over we can screw over every single American voter. Yeah, great idea.
*Yawn*.
@5,
i would like to see a thurman thomas / obama ticket.
Ron Paul!
This kind of shit proves that D's are a very self-destructive people. How about: What if we had a super-smart, charismatic guy that's liberal but independents like, who was right on the war? Jesus, we have a winner on our hands and we can't deal with it.
Fucking kill me. Right when you think the Goreons are done with their moronic shit: bam.
This is just another attempt by the MSM to feed the Democratic Primary race with endless speculation so they can have something, anything, to report.
Joke Line is a national journalistic disgrace who is always wrong about everything.
Ah -- so DAN is the guy who reads Joe Klein. I figured there had to be at least one person on Earth who cared what Klein had to say.
Nixon's Head/Agnew's Body '08!
White guy saves the day!!!
What's with your Al Gore hard-on? Get over it please.
For fuck's sake. I like Gore too, but so what? The fact is, he wasn't a candidate, and totally ignoring the results of all the primaries and caucuses over the past few months, and instead having a handful of folks pick a candidate who wasn't running, is just bullshit. Even if that candidate is a Nobel Prize winner.
The Gore idea is a disaster. Guaranteed loser. We've already got a candidate, thanks.
So in a passionate race between the most viable female and black presidential candidates in history, you want the superdelegates to ignore the will of the people and replace both of them with a white man? Yeah. That'll go over well.
I can't think of anything dumber than bringing someone who couldn't haul the vote in '04 back into the picture in '08. Well I can, but..you know...
This is what happens when you stretch out primary season. Idle speculation from bored people posing as news to fill an empty news cycle.
Feh.
Poe @ 21, Gore was 00, Kerry was 04
I sure did. But I'll settle for Obama/Richardson 08 as well.
I don't really see the point of discussing such far-fetched hypotheticals at this point. We've got two capable candidates.
I would love a Gore/Obama ticket.
Also, Joe Klein is a complete fucking idiot who should be ignored.
Yeah, NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.
Gore doesn't even WANT to be president.
And comments still don't ever remember me no matter how many times I mark yes. Sad.
RFK/MLK in 68!
Oh yeah. Durr.
@4 - solid endorsement!
This is classic Joe Klein. The only way he could have achieved a more flawed premise would have been beginning with "Let’s say I'm a competent political analyst..."
I thought it was kind of sad when you were running Gore-inclusive straw polls last fall, but this is just getting disturbing. He doesn't WANT to be president. Who would vote for someone that doesn't want to be president? Also, in case you've forgotten, Gore let Bush win. He should stick to winning Nobel prizes.
klein is a moron. generally speaking.
I'd support Hillary before Gore. Does no one else remember the 2000 election? Christ!
And how would backdooring a guy that nobody voted for into the nomination and undermining the entire primary process be good for the party itself, or for this country?
This idea makes less sense than the entire Dan Savage lovefest for Al Gore As President idea itself. Handing Gore the nomination would meltdown the party and pretty much lock up Republican rule by default for the next 20 years.
I love how people flip the fuck out about the possibility of the Democrats picking Clinton if she doesn't go in with a majority of pledged delegates yet have no problem with the nomination being handed off to someone who didn't even run in a single primary.
I had a Gore/Obama boner last fall, too, but I agree with everyone above who's saying that this is wild speculation meant to fill the 24-hour news cycle vacuum.
Buuuuut, since you brought it up: if the Dem primary keeps getting nastier, and both Obama and Clinton are polling way, WAY below McCain, then the supers have to do what they were intended to do, and save the party from itself. I don't know if Gore would be the best candidate in that scenario, but he'd be my favorite. The supers, though, should just hand the nomination to Obama now and avoid that scenario.
Gore is a bad candidate. He lost in 1988 to Michael Fucking Dukakis and got fewer votes than Jesse Jackson, and couldn't decisively beat W in 2000, enabling the election theft that followed. The only reason he got the nomination in 2000 is that he was sitting VP and the only guy who even made a half-hearted attempt against him in the primaries, Bill Bradley, was just as wooden and awkward and tedious.
Nominating Gore would be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Obama is the guy, backed up by someone with real foreign policy experience who also has appeal to independents. Think James Webb, or if the Clinton crowd has to be pacified maybe Wesley Clark. Bill Richardson wouldn't be a bad choice either, though my guess is that he's not white enough. But man would the right wing shit bricks if those two got elected.
Obama/Bloomberg
Josh @35 -- who are these "people" that you're sneering at? Opinion here seems to be 100% against the idea of Gore.
Gore did no run. Did no subject hisself to winning over the hearts and minds of the electorate. Does no deserve therefore to win nomination. Thank you Dan for some well-spent ass-scratching.
also, btw, pretty effing easy to win a nobel when no one is taking you seriously. sort of ideal circumstances if may. harder, you know, a lot, when you're being paid attention to. not that i don't admire him, just... don't really want a president who is always awesome but only at the most opportune moments.
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