Draft Gore Movement Picks Up Steam - Democratic Underground

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Mon Oct-01-07 08:46 PM
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Draft Gore Movement Picks Up Steam

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-katovsky/draft-gore-movement-picks_b_66695.html

Draft Gore Movement Picks Up Steam
Posted October 1, 2007 | 06:46 PM (EST)

All across America, Al Gore supporters nervously count down the days to October 12 -- that's the day when the Nobel Peace Prize is announced. Many expect the former Vice President to win the award, and if he does it will cap a marvelous year of accomplishments -- Oscar, Emmy, Live Earth, bestseller. It will also immediately fuel speculation that Gore will jump into the 2008 presidential race.

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Around that time, the New York Times quoted Gore as saying, "Having spent 30 years as part of the political dialogue, I don't know why a 600-day campaign is taken as a given, and why people who aren't in it 600 days out for the convenience of whatever brokers want to close the door and narrow the field and say, 'This is it, now let's place your bets.' If they want to do that, fine. I don't have to play that game."

True to his word, Gore hasn't played that game. Could the Nobel become the catalyst for Citizen Gore to tell America, "I'm in!" Furthermore, will he be able to raise sufficient funds, build a campaign staff with field offices in key primary states, and re-introduce himself to Democratic voters as their next president?

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I know of many Democrats who still get angry whenever the subject of the 2000 presidential election is brought up in conversation. Like them, I believe that the election was stolen, and the wrong man got the job. Some blame for Gore's defeat can be attributed to those vexing butterfly ballots which affected voting in southern Florida. A fair electoral system would have mandated a complete statewide recount, something the Supreme Court wrongly dismissed. And so, all that has happened to our nation since then is straight out of chaos theory: the slight turbulence created by a butterfly flapping its wings can set into motion atmospheric disturbance that results in a hurricane on the other side of the planet. Instead of our country being led by Gore who won the popular vote, we've suffered through eight dispiriting years of Bush/Cheney and a catastrophic war in Iraq.

There are a number of Net activists and grassroots organizations also banking on Gore's rendezvous with destiny. They have kept the faith. They are waiting for Gore. But they have also been busy building an independent infrastructure of volunteers as well as conducting an online petition drive urging Gore to run. The most successful web group is DraftGore.com, which was founded by Monica Friedlander, of Oakland, California, four years ago and is its current chairperson.

Last July, Eva Ritchey, of western North Carolina, who is a member of DraftGore.com's five-person executive committee, hand-delivered 100,000 names and addresses on a computer disk to the Gore office in Nashville. Her visit made national news. Now, over the next several weeks, DraftGore.com will pump up the volume with email newsletters, radio advertising, and help create a national network of volunteers. Its main objectives are threefold: to get the word out, to demonstrate that there continues to be a strong, viable nationwide interest in a Gore candidacy, and to be prepared for instant mobilization of campaign support if he does enter the race.

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