Monday, January 29, 2007

Gore Honors Prince Charles

Al Gore yesterday honored Prince Charles with an award for his work in campaigning for the environment.

The award from the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, was for Global Environmental Citizen.

Prince Charles said he was touched to receive the award from Gore, and having followed his career for a long time, considered it a particular privilege.

There has been no word yet on any decision from Gore on the 2008 nomination. However, the last 2 weeks have been consumed by the Hillary and Obama announcements, the Senate Iraq hearings and the President's State of the Union Address.

When the media attention dies down a little on the Clinton campaign (and it will - can you imagine this every day for the next 12 months?) Gore may give some hint as to his intentions.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

POST/ABC Poll - Gore on 10%

For a former candidate who doesn't appear to be running yet and isn't campaigning, Al Gore certainly is popular.

In a national poll conducted by the Washington Post and ABC of 561 Democrats and Democrat leaning independents, Gore secured a very respectable 10%. This put him in fourth place in the poll behind Clinton, Obama and Edwards.

Gore has yet to rule out another run for the White House. But with the media focusing their attention primarily on the contest between Clinton and Obama, the result for Gore in this poll is very interesting indeed.

Al Gore 10%
Hillary Clinton 41%
Barack Obama 17%
John Edwards 11%
John Kerry 8%
Joe Biden 3%

Monday, January 15, 2007

Will Gore run again?

Al Gore, Former Senator from Tennessee, Vice President and Presidential Candidate in 2000 has not yet ruled out a run for the Democratic nomination for President.

Over the last few years, Gore has been maintaining a high profile, campaigning on the issue of Global Warming. He has travelled the world, talking to key political and industry leaders, as well as the general community about what he calls the greatest issue facing mankind today.

The film "An Inconvenient Truth" was a surprise hit, and created a massive amount of attention for Gore.

So will Gore run? It's hard to tell. He does have good grass roots support within the Democratic Party. And there are those who think he was robbed of the chance in 2000, and deserves another go. It would also be likely that Gore would be able to raise money quickly, unlike some of the other candidates.

But Gore would face stiff challenges. Hillary Clinton leads the race thus far, with Barack Obama not far behind. Then there is the formidable John Edwards, and maybe John Kerry if he throws his hat in the ring.

This is a big difference from his nomination in 2000, when as Vice President he had a much easier run.

However, Gore has established a reputation of being a good loser, of conducting himself with dignity since going down in 2000. And the people of America knows he cares about the big issues - he is not in this for himself, he has been working to help change the world, even as a private individual.

It is unlikely that Gore would declare over the coming weeks, with the expected announcements of Obama and Clinton shortly.

Gore may sit it out for a while, waiting to see how the other candidates fare. With big personalities in play, this could be a bruising year. It might yet be that a compromise or healing candidate could emerge from the wings.

Who better than Al Gore? Elder statesmen, former Vice President, very experienced and committed to making a difference. It might yet happen.