Gore supporters, where to now....?

[RiverStone]

I let go of my Gore for President dream 1 week after he won the NPP. I thought if there was any chance of it happening, he would announce on the heels of such a tremendous honor.

Alas, he did not.

The letter to supporters from Al Gore's chief of staff at AlGore.org (see DU link below) requesting folks chill on efforts to get his name on state ballots seems to have definitively ended further speculation.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2271024&mesg_id=2271024

Some have said either it's Gore or nobody.

I still plan to support a Democrat even if it means supporting a compromise candidate. I definitely want to do all I can to ensure another rethug does not decorate the White House in January 2009.

My heart is with Dennis, but my head feels the next most Democratic centered candidate that CAN WIN is John Edwards. My guess is if Al were to endorse anyone before the primaries, it would be John.

So Gore supporters, where to now?

[crispini]

1. Dennis!

I'm not tired of tilting at windmills! :D

Realistically, Edwards will probably be my fallback after Dennis. :D

[Taverner]

2. Go with your conscience

I just know it's going to be my candidate because I'm so fucking right :sarcasm:

Seriously, go with your conscience. It's not November yet - oh wait, it is. Well you know, it's not that November yet.

[Dora]

3. Kucinich. nt

[mod mom]

4. Defeat clinton elect a populist to lead the party.

after a period of mourning, of course.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

5. Clinton Or Nobody

I know this won't go over well, but for the first time in my 42 years, I plan to skip next November's election.

And I know it's hated here at DU, and everybody will say that the stakes are so high. BULLSHIT! I am NOT GOING TO VOTE FOR SOMEONE I DON'T LIKE, just because she's a Democrat.

Part of me hopes this country ends up with another repub in the WH, because we're so FUCKED UP, that we deserve it.

[RiverStone]

13. Your thinking may change...

When you have heard the sewage that spills forth from Rudy/Mitt/Fred after the rethug nomination. Ramblings which will further intrude upon your personal liberties and potentially shift the SCOTUS way right for a generation.

I dearly hope our Dem choice is NOT Hillary, but even as beholden as she may be to the corporations; I don't believe she would appoint a SCOTUS judge who will take away choice.

She has that much sense at least.

Of course, it is your vote to use or lose. I'm voting Dem in the General.

[AspenRose]

23. Children and future generations don't deserve it.

eom

[WilliamPitt]

33. Make sure you pick up an absentee ballot, just in case

Rumor has it you're moving or something.

Wouldn't want you to be an ocean away with no way to cast a vote, just in case you figure out what it will mean for America and the world if a man like Norman Podhoretz is given a powerful position in the Pentagon and allowed to bring that rain of fire down on Iran he's been praying for(which will happen if enough people stay home like you and open enough of a margin for a Giuliani victory).

And, of course, Iran will just be for starters once Podhoretz and his boys slip the leash. They could quite possibly unleash a breed of slaughterhouse bedlam that will have us remembering the first decade of the 21st century as "the good old days."

As long as your principles remain unblemished, maybe you won't smell the blood. Can't have you performing some distasteful act like voting for a Democrat or something, no matter how grim and brutal a necessity it is to keep an even more radical clan of neo-cons out of power. It is far more important that you keep intact and unsullied your good opinion of yourself and your principles.

Or...um...not.

I'm not sitting here prostelytizing for Clinton, by the way. I haven't yet picked a candidate, but I can sure-God guarantee that she will not be my choice in the primary. But if she does get nominated (which is not any kind of sure thing, by the way), and my vote for her might help even a speck to keep Rudy and his batshit crazy coterie out of the Oval, well...I guess I'll just have to accept that burden and live with it.

...and living with it means I'll have done a small thing to help a lot of other people simply live.

[Neecy]

6. it was tough...

I finally gave up the ghost and signed up yesterday at Obama's local HQ. Yeah, I'm still angry about the McClurkin thing, but I agree with him on the majority of issues. I have no right to bitch about Hillary being our nominee unless I go out and work for someone else. So there I am.

[mother earth]

7. John Edwards! He's the one who can truly win and he's the

only one who understands how dire the economy is for the middle class. He's the only one who understands that all the immigration BS is really about labor rights. Wake up, America! This may be the last chance for the middle class.

[jzodda]

8. The idea that somebody would say Gore or nobody

makes me feel sad. I would hope that everybody here will vote for whoever comes out of the Primary on our side. The stakes are too high and another republican we can't handle. I will take any democrat over every republican and give them 4 good years to prove themselves. If they fail then in 4 years reap the whirlwind, but at this point I would hope we all rally around the nominee and have none of us staying home on election day.

[racaulk]

9. I have no idea.

I too was hoping for a Gore candidacy this time, but I have officially given up that hope recently. I thought for sure that he would use the NPP as a platform to announce his candidacy, but when he didn't, I was crushed and unsure where to turn. And I still don't know.

I'm indifferent about the primaries, really. I don't feel too strongly about any of the candidates. I will probably just sit out of the primaries and just focus on the GE, where I will definitely be supporting the Democrat on the ticket, whoever he or she ends up being.

:hi:

[movonne]

10. Edwards, I really would like to have dennis...corporate america

will not let him win...they will kill him first...

[rjones2818]

29. It should say something...

that you think corporate america would be willing to kill Dennis and yet allow John to be president.

[Danieljay]

11. Canada. n/t

[Cha]

15. Right...you're doin' pretty

good there in ol' Blue Portland, arentcha? :)

[Danieljay]

51. Drive 20 miles in any direction and it gets pretty red again.

Vancouver BC is nice, so I've heard.

[Blaze Diem]

17. LOL..my exact thought.

I understand why Gore would not want to be part of the regime managed election system we now have.

He knows more than we do as to how that all works, I assume.

BC would be suitable, nice weather, and mixed culture.
Just want a quiet liberal place to exist.
Its not going to happen here anymore.
sucks. I really loved this country.

[Tesha]

12. Kucinich. (NT)

[Cha]

14. I never had it(I believed him) and I still support Gore

but it is what it is. I still don't have a definitive candidate but it's obviously, either, Kucinich or Edwards..HELLO :)

[onehandle]

16. Edwards was endorsed by "Friends of the Earth."

I believe Gore is some sort of environmentalist.

[KoKo]

18. Kucinich...and then I'll write Gore's name in for the General Election

if Hillary is the Nominee.

[redqueen]

19. What do you mean by a candidate that CAN WIN?

Do you mean the primaries or the general?

I think DK, if he got the nod, would have a better chance than other candidates, simply because he doesn't speak using wiggle words and has a record that won't allow an opponent to tar him with 'but he did it too!'

Anyway, I hope you get on board with DK. I plan to vote for him UNLESS Edwards looks like he can beat Clinton when our primary rolls around... if his numbers look that good I may vote for him, but probably not. I like voting my conscience in the primaries. :)

[RiverStone]

25. I meant in the General

My thinking closely parallels yours and I hope Edwards does look like he can beat Hillary. I'm baffled at why he remains consistently in 3rd place. He is really trying in Iowa to change that.

DK unequivocally represents my views better than any Dem in the field, by a long shot. Sadly, I do not believe he gets enough (good) coverage via the M$M, has not the name recognition, nor the financially deep pockets to compete on a national stage (and win the presidency). America deserves Dennis, but too many in the media write him off as a flake - out of fear he may be listened to.

[rjones2818]

35. Self-fulfilling prophecy.

I won't vote for the one who represents my views best because not enough people, who think exactly like me, won't vote for him, when, in reality, if those people voted for who represented them the best they would be able to win if those people actually voted for him.

It's up to you to figure out if you're going to be part of that self-fulfilling prophacy or not.

[OHdem10]

20. I would think Edwards could get a lot of Gore supporters

if they vote in the Primary.

I certainly hope Gore supporters will vote for whomever is
our final candidate in the election.

[Pastiche423]

24. You think wrong

why would anyone that supported Al Gore want a slickass former DLCer that co-sponored and voted for the IWR?

The men are galaxies apart.

[Bluebear]

26. Al was a former DLCer too.

There is redemption :)

[Pastiche423]

32. Not for johnnyboy

[RiverStone]

27. Then if we are faced with someone deeper in the DLC...

In Hillary as our nominee, will you still vote Dem in the General?

I'm thinking no matter how it shakes out, most of us will be making a compromised vote. But vote I will and it will be a DEM vote for sure.

Edwards is my choice #3 - behind Gore and Kucinich, but what we CAN still change is stopping DLCer to the max Hillary. That is where I've shifted my focus...

[Pastiche423]

31. I will not vote for Hillary - ever

In 2004, it physically hurt to vote for the Dem appointed ones. I swore to myself then, that I would never again vote for the lesser.

Dennis was my #2. I will vote for him in the primary. If he does not win the primary, I will not, for the 1st time in 35 years of voting, vote in the general.

[Bluebear]

34. Oh, my. You'd rather have a President Romney, for instance, and not vote at all?

I feel your frustration and sincerely hope you change your mind and cast a ballot.

[Pastiche423]

37. IMHO, there is, for practical purposes

no differences in DLCers and republics. They both answer to their corporate bosses.

[RiverStone]

39. think SCOTUS

Believe me, it is a huge stretch to defend Hillary - but don't you think she would at least appoint someone with 1/2 a brain to SCOTUS (rather than another lock-stepping wacko)?

Lets hope she is NOT the DEM nominee, but I do see her as a step above any rethug.

[Pastiche423]

42. No, I have no belief in Hillary doing anything for the good of all

[ourbluenation]

41. Please think SCOTUS.

[Pastiche423]

43. Why?

My one vote (or non vote) will not tip the scales of any campaign.

[Mme. Defarge]

21. Dennis

[WilliamPitt]

22. Victory.

Your help in any capacity will be greatly appreciated.

:toast:

[The Wielding Truth]

28. DK all the way!!!

:kick:

[derby378]

30. Either Bill Richardson or Dennis Kucinich

Richardson for his domestic policy and diplomatic skills, Kucinich for sheer guts in pushing impeachment back onto the table.

[New Earth]

36. nowhere

he wants the draft campaign to stop trying to put him on the ballot, because he is going to put himself on the ballot.





















:hide:

[BuelahWitch]

38. Probably DK

He's the only one who seems to have any backbone. If not him, maybe Chris Dodd.

[dropkickpa]

40. Edwards n/t

[ThomWV]

44. I'll vote for the Party's choice next November, contribute to no one, and work to defeat Hillary.

[Raine]

45. I'll go for ANY candidate but Hillary

I'll especially support ANY candidate who can beat her and put her out of the running.

[OnionPatch]

46. I'll vote for Edwards

I gave up hope on Al a month or more ago. It would have been nice......

I like Edwards the best out of the bunch. I'll vote for him.

[NYCGirl]

47. OBAMA NT

[DefenseLawyer]

48. I think it's a shame

The man can do what he wants, but I would like to think if I was actually in a position to take on the challenges we have before us I wouldn't shrink from it (and please, save the "he can do more not being president" baloney). My only hope is that he didn't consult with Bob Shrum and his band of idiots in determining the viability of a campaign and in making his final decision.

[Subdivisions]

49. I'm voting for Dennis Kucinich and I will

WORK MY ASS OFF to get him elected.

Wish me luck. I face a stiff headwind selling Kucinich here in Texas, but face it I shall.

[WA98296]

50. SADLY, John Edwards IS DLC, so he won't be getting my vote. Kucinch will be.

[Stephanie]

52. Edwards

[CoffeeCat]

53. I am leaning toward Edwards....

I went through a mourning period after I came to terms with Gore not running.

After I started paying attention to the other candidates, I was astounded at how
progressive John Edwards is. On "This Week" he unequivocally stated that we have
a corrupt political system that need to be overhauled. He drilled down and explained
how lobbyists and corporations are using money to steal the government from "We The People."

Edwards truly gets it. He didn't say the word "Fascism", but it's clear that he understands
that our system is completely broken and in need of an overhaul.

Edwards champions the poor and the underprivileged. He did this when it was an uninteresting
issue--when most candidates were busy trying to position themselves as "tough on terror."

Edwards is also a decent, moral, scandal-free family man. The Republicans will find very little grist for their slander mill--when it comes to Edwards.

I also like Edwards because, like Gore--he's been out of the DC game for a while. He isn't tied
to special interests, corporations and the current web of corruption--as much as some of the
candidates who are sitting in it.

I'm still undecided--but because of these reasons--I am most likely going for Edwards.

I attended the Iowa caucuses last year and Edwards had an amazing showing. He's tied in
Iowa now--despite very little press or television ads.

[RiverStone]

54. good endorsement!

Thanks for sharing your thoughtful review of JE TwoSparkles.

My lean is also with Edwards, though admittedly he is my 3rd choice --- Gore, Kucinich, Edwards.

In a way, it is a compromise vote as DK truly represents my views,but as I said up-thread; I do believe JE has a viable chance not only to get the Nom, but win in all regions during the General. And I want a DEM to WIN!!!

My Dennis be appointed by our new DEM Pres to head the Dept. of Peace!

[Guaranteed]

55. Not sure what's up with the Gore to DK movement- those supporting

Gore maybe shouldn't have been....

Anyway, I'm going Edwards. He's the one who seems to have the best chance of winning while expressing a solid understanding of what is going on with our country (an understanding much like Gore's).