Posted on 04/24/2008 1:09:31 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In the wake of Barack Obama’s defeat in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the Democrats have a huge problem. On the one hand, they have a front-runner who hasn’t won a single one of the major primary states other than his own, who’s a neophyte on the national scene, and who has enormous difficulties attracting the white, non–college educated voters he needs to win. On the other, there’s Hillary Clinton — a candidate who has greatly diminished her stature on the campaign trail, who faces huge liabilities of her own (in part because of her gender and in part because of Clinton fatigue), and whose chances of winning in November would require her to thread an Electoral College needle. Furthermore, the long, bitter campaign has produced an untenable result: a large portion of each camp’s supporters now say they are unlikely to support the intra-party rival should their candidate not win the nomination.
Therefore, if the Democrats want to have their best chance to win an election in November that six months ago it looked like they couldn’t lose, they may have only one option at this point: they can turn to Al Gore.
In truth, Gore would be a stronger candidate in November than the two front-runners. He knows what it’s like to run in a tough presidential campaign, which, as we’re finding out with Obama, is a huge advantage. He is, after all, a Nobel Prize winner; he has the advantage of now running from outside Washington even though he’s as experienced as John McCain; and he might be able to pick off a Southern state or two. He’s already won once — with an asterisk. And he could put the electoral focus back on the economy and the Republican record of the past eight years — a record likely to continue as long as Clinton or Obama is the nominee.
Sure, Gore’s entry would obviously not be greeted with waves of enthusiasm by Obama supporters. Still, he is quite popular with one of the Illinois senator’s principal constituencies: the young.
Against all odds
It’s true that drafting a new candidate at this point would be unprecedented. But the virtually deadlocked race between the two remaining candidates makes it at least possible.
Several things would have to occur — and quickly. First, some senior Democrats — with the help, perhaps, of a former presidential candidate, such as John Edwards — would have to publicly urge Gore to make a run. It would help matters enormously if this group included former supporters of Clinton and Obama.
Second, though not required, a write-in campaign could be mounted in one of the remaining states, such as Kentucky or Oregon, on May 20, or Montana or South Dakota, on June 3. The advantage of Oregon is that, historically, at least one candidate — Jerry Brown in 1976 — ran a strong third there as a write-in.
The advantage of Kentucky, Montana, or South Dakota is that neither of the present front-runners looks particularly strong on paper in those contests. Furthermore, because those states are relatively small, a well-funded write-in campaign might have a chance to be successful. (Success in this case doesn’t mean winning, just doing “better than expected.”) The key, of course, is to raise the necessary money to mount such a campaign. But in the Internet age — with the right backing — it might be pulled off.
Third, a bloc of superdelegates would have to declare for the putative candidate. Again, this isn’t impossible. There are about 25 Edwards delegates still out there that might be persuaded by Edwards himself — so that’s a start. Plus, there are enough horrified and disgruntled party elders who would welcome an alternative, if they thought they wouldn’t be making fools of themselves by going out on a limb for a candidate with no chance of being successful.
Finally, a Gore draft would eventually need the support of either Bill or Hillary. While the Clinton effort has begun to succeed in its argument that Obama has major weaknesses, it is time for its principals to realize that Hillary is never going to succeed in the camp’s second necessary argument: that she should be the alternative. She’s never going to catch Obama in the elected delegate count. And her initial high poll negatives (that have never been reduced) — combined with the way she has alienated Obama’s supporters — make her now an almost certain loser in November.
So, if she and Bill care about the party and nation and truly believe that Obama is unelectable — an unpopular but defensible argument — they have, really, only two choices. They can throw in with an effort to draft their former protégé. (A Gore and Newark mayor Cory Booker ticket?) Or they can continue to indulge their illusions and send their party hurtling toward disaster.
ODDS REPUBLICANS JOHN MCCAIN The nominee
DEMOCRATS BARACK OBAMA Odds: 1-5 | past week: same HILLARY CLINTON Odds: 5-1 | same
DELEGATE COUNT BARACK OBAMA Pledged: 1479 Superdelegates: 234 Total: 1713 Short by: 311
HILLARY CLINTON Pledged: 1328 Superdelegates: 258 Total: 1586 Short by: 438
Delegates needed to win: 2024 SOURCE: REAL CLEAR POLITICS AS OF 4/23/08
On the Web The Presidential Tote Board Blog: http://www.thephoenix.com/toteboard
I found a flaw in the logic.
What if he won? That would be a nightmare of epic proportion. Hilary and Al Gore...[[[[shudder]]]]
I would seriously consider moving everything out of the country. They'd rob us blind.
I wish we could draft Duncan Hunter.
I also wish Al Gore would be exiled to the North Pole and cut off from any kind of media exposure.
I love when they use this description. As if you are white and college educated you are somehow smarter and would vote for this Marxist!
Guess with college indoctrination who knows...
I said months ago that Gore was somehow going to be the candidate, and I bet he will be. What’s worse, I bet he’ll win.
There's that, and he'd eventually have to debate his lies about AGW with someone sooner or later and that would ultimately be the end of the Profit Algore.......
This is the Doomsday Option of Operation Chaos.
In the end, it won’t help.
What a long-winded gasbag. So much moonbattery in one opinion piece I just cannot even grab onto one part.
I spotted that flaw too. Why would a Clinton ever do anything that doesn’t help a Clinton. And the fact is, if Hillary is going to lose, she’d much rather have Obama be the nominee than Gore. Obama will be so much easier for the Clinton’s to sabatoge in order to leave the race open for 2012.
Besides, don’t the Clinton’s hate Gore even more than they hate Obama?
Here’s the reason why he won’t, even if he wanted to do so....Gore couln’t stand the financial vetting and disclosures. You think that the Clintons have done well?..Gore’s made maybe $500 mill...
They’d still lose the black vote. It would be akin to saying, “Sorry, we need to bring in the white guy...the black guy isn’t good enough.” Same with women, it will alienate those die hard feminists..”We need a man for this job.”
Who are these idiots who keep coming up with this “idea”?
I have a news flash for them:
It doesn’t matter how the Rat party steals the nomination from Obama.
They can steal it by using the super-delegates-chose-Hillary gambit.
Or they can follow the advice of the idiot that wrote this article and somehow finagle a Gore nomination.
But it doesn’t matter what they do or how they do it.
If Obama is not nominated, the Denver convention is going up in FLAMES. It’s going to be Chicago’68+Watts’65 X 1000.
And if they’re stupid enough not to know that (and I suspect even the stupidest of the stupid rats actually knows that) then what I’m going to do is buy an even wider screen TV because, man, I want to watch that action on the biggest screen possible.
So go ahead, dumborats, take the nomination from The Mullah Obama. I dare you.
‘The world’s largest TV’: 205 inches
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9698371-1.html
WRONG, Homey.
a well-funded write-in campaign might have a chance to be successful.
This boy's just delusional, isn't he? Or maybe he's written a joking homage to Operation Chaos. Either way, it ain't happenin'. On another note, I had lunch with a Dem buddy of mine a few months ago (I don't hold it against him - he grew up Dem, and still seems to think they're normal people). I asked him who he liked, and he, even then, said he didn't like Hillary or Obama because he didn't think they could win, and wondered if a third person might enter at the last minute.
Looks like Dems believe in a "Savior" after all.
That’s not a TV, that’s a movie theater!
Don’t forget the industrial-size popcorn popper!!LOL!!!
Here is the solution for the Demagogues, the one and only option that can save their party in 2008 and beyond:
Bill Clinton needs to undergo a sex change operation and then be the new compromise candidate as Mrs. Billie Clinton.
This will please almost all relevant constituencies and can get around the XXII Amendment b/c “she” will no longer be the same “person” as William Jefferson Clinton.
Hillary won’t be pleased to be eased aside but will be delighted to finally be married to a woman.
Democrats everywhere will be thrilled that they can revive their “1st Black President” in a new form.
Barack’s supporters won’t be thrilled but will grudgingly acknowledge the brilliance of this solution.
Bill Clinton may be reluctant to part with his manhood but can be persuaded to “take a hit for the team” or else Hillary can knock him out with a flying ashtray — next thing he knows he wakes up having just undergone the surgery!
The media will love it because it will be such a gender-bending revolutionary “first” and will generate endless chatter in the MSM.
The US Supreme Court will have to rule on the XXII Amendment issue but how can they rule that the new & improved she, Billie Clinton, is the same “person” as the 42nd President of the USA?
All in all a perfect solution for the Demagogues.
Hillary won’t be pleased to be eased aside but will be delighted to finally be married to a woman.There's the flaw in your plan!
Hillary definitely wants to be married to a woman, but not THAT woman!
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