GORE TO RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!! (sometime. maybe)

Well, this is interesting:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former Vice President Al Gore denied again that there were any campaign plans in his immediate future, but told CNN Monday that he hadn't "ruled out getting back into the political process at some point" — and that if he did return to political life, it would be to take another shot at the White House.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, speaking from the Oslo site of Monday's awards ceremony, told CNN's Jonathan Mann that he didn't expect to ever get back in the political process, but that "if I did get back, it would be as a candidate for president."

What scenario would he entertain in order to undetake such a task?

I think I know the answer. The scenario would have to break this way:

1) Hillary Clinton would have to lose the nomination in 2008.

2) The NotHillary Democratic candidate would have to lose in 2008.

(side note: If Hillary wins the nomination in 2008, but loses the general election, she would run again in 2012, I feel.)

This would leave a wide-open field for Gore to walk in and start fundraising early and often. Many of his sources overlap Clinton (and to some degree, John Edwards), so it makes no sense for him to run if Hillary is a viable candidate. She'd need to be repudiated by the party for her to lose her viability.

Should Obama win the nomination (a long shot), look for Gore to begin ramping up for the 2012 election before the convention is over. In fact, I'd expect a major prime time address in Denver from Gore if Hilalry hasn't sewed it up.

07/07/07

I've been meaning to blog about this, but other events have taken precedence and since as I write this for Sunday, I have no clue what the news will bring today, this is as good a time as any to post on this:

[Al] Gore is scheduled to announce the concerts today in Los Angeles. He's expected to be joined there by rock stars Jon Bon Jovi and Sting, rap musician Pharrell Williams and media executive Kevin Wall, who served as worldwide executive producer for Live 8, the 2005 concerts that drew attention to African debt relief.

The Gore-promoted event will be held July 7, according to published reports, with seven major concerts on seven continents. Producers are said to be considering Washington as the North American host city, but one likely venue -- the Mall -- might be unavailable to them, a National Park Service spokesman said yesterday.

Gee....can't imagine why the Bush administration wouldn't want Al Gore parked on their front lawn, so to speak, just days after the annual Capitol Fourth, but I digress...more details on the event are found here and here.

Can a concert, even one as massive as a six continent, 24 hour extravaganza (no, that does NOT include Antarctica...it's the middle of winter!), promote the cause of saving the earth enough that people will take action?

I mean, the Police reunion will help, of course (and one wonders if this is why Sting decided to tour with Andy and Stewart), but can a concert change enough minds that are intractably resolved to the stubborn belief that global climate change is not real, or not a threat, or perhaps even a benefit?

It's not intended to. We need to focus on the fact that there are billions of people on this planet whose only interest in the news is what can filer down to them as they go through their meager existences, without television, without the internet.

But with music. This is not to change minds. It is to inform.

So maybe, just maybe, it will open enough eyes in places like India and China...and America, I'm ashamed to say...who are mis- or underinformed.

It might make a difference, and given the stakes of man's continued existence, it must be done.

tags technorati : live earth al gore climate change global warming