Al Gore is the only solution.
Concur. But I don't think it's going to happen at the convention. Let me give you an insight into what I think is brewing.
The Democratic National Convention will kick off with a floor fight over Michigan and Florida. Some compromise will be found, and there will be temporary peace.
Then the superdelegates will put themselves up for sale, but neither side will be able to promise everything to everybody. So the superdelegates will abstain. As a result, the 1st and 2nd Ballots will be inconclusive.
On the eve of the 3rd Ballot, there will be a floor fight on reopening the nominations, and by a narrow vote those favoring reopening will win. Albert Gore's name will be placed in nomination.
At this point the talking heads on TV will state confidently that Gore will have it wrapped by the 5th Ballot. But while the superdelegates will vote in a block for Gore, Hillary's and Obama's support will shrink only slightly. By the 5th Ballot, there will be a 3-way dead heat, and subsequent ballots will not change the numbers appreciably.
This is where things get ugly.
By the 10th Ballot, superdelegates who stroll to the wrong part of the convention floor will be beaten, either by black supporters of Obama or union supporters of Hillary. There will be yet another floor fight over the expulsion of the assaulters, their replacement by alternates, and to whom the alternates should be pledged.
By the 11th Ballot, delegates will be arrested at the metal detectors attempting to smuggle in knives and guns. There will be another floor fight over the replacement of the offending delegates.
By the 15th Ballot, the fight will move as delegates and superdelegates fight battles with mace, nunchuks, brass knuckles, knives and guns on the streets of Denver. The Denver PD will be overwhelmed, the Colorado National guard will be brought in, and parts of Denver will be placed under martial law.
By the 20th Ballot, delegates will start going home. The 22nd Ballot will be the last one. The Democratic National Convention will adjourn without choosing a ticket.
In a scenario worthy of Allen Drury, the Democratic National Committee will meet en banc in Washington to pick a nominee. The street violence will shift from Denver to DC as supporters of all three sides and anarchists re-enact the Days of Rage from the Sixties.
The DNC, after some logrolling and dealmaking, will pick Al Gore as the nominee. Obama will be offered the vice presidency; he will refuse. Hillary will be offered the vice presidency; she will refuse. Bill Richardson will be offered the vice presidency; he will accept.
Hillary will realize that she has lost for 2008, and she can't afford to buck the institutional party, so she will endorse Gore/Richardson and save her powder for 2012.
Even if Obama knuckled under, his supporters would not take his rejection lying down, so he will leave his senate seat, recruit John Edwards to be his running mate and run as the nominee of the People's Democratic Party, supported by money from Soros and the netroots. His rallying cry will be, "Gore never received a vote in the primaries, the political bosses made the call, and the people have been disenfranchised."
With the vote on the Left evenly split, McCain wins 45 to 50 states.
Same destination, different route.
Yup. Gore rides to the Dems’ rescue at their ‘08 Denver convention.