The fact that Al Gore is campaigning for Barack Obama -- as the Obama campaign announced today -- could give Obama a big boost among undecided Dems, particularly people who are still embittered by the divisive primary.

That's because Gore is the man who suffered the ultimate electoral highway robbery when he was robbed in 2000. Furthermore, his presence will serve as a warning to any disgruntled Hillary supporters: Just as the Nader voters' obstinacy gave us Bush, a lack of party unity can hurt us all by helping to elect McCain.

Gore announced his endorsement of Obama in a post on his own blog, with a teaser about the Detroit rally tonight.

Al Gore did an interview with NPR in which he said some interesting things about the state of the presidential race -- for instance:

"Even though it has gone on much longer than is normal in the age of primaries and caucuses, nevertheless I think the odds are overwhelming that it will tip rather decisively in one way or the other before the convention even meets."

The notion that it could tip "decisively" in Hillary's direction seems counterintuitive to us. The range of possibilities seems more like it ranges from a decisive move of super-dels to Obama on one end of the spectrum to a deadlocked convention and/or a pitched battle over the super-dels on the other.

Gore also said: "As a delegate to the convention I will cast my vote at the proper time. I haven't ruled out making an endorsement... but I haven't been moved to do so."

Also, Mark Halperin has a transcript of more from the interview, as well as some audio of another interesting quote from the interview. Asked about the possibility that party leaders might try to broker some sort of deal where he stepped in as the nominee, he said:

"In a year of remote contingencies, that's as about as remote as you could possibly imagine."

If Democrats were hoping for Al Gore to step in and help bring the Democratic race to an end, Gore himself doesn't look like he's in any hurry.

In an interview with CBS, Gore said he is trying to stay out of the campaign, despite entreaties by both candidates. "Well, I'm not applying for the job of broker," he said, likening such a role to a "modern Boss Tweed."

The other day, in an oddly overlooked post, CNN's Political Ticker reported that two sources close to Al Gore had said he'd ruled out endorsing during this Dem primary season.

I've just spoken to a source close to Gore myself, and this person confirmed that the report is correct: Gore will not endose.

Gore spokesperson Kalee Krider declined to comment to Election Central.

CNN reported this as the reason for Gore's decision:

With Sen. John Kerry and Bill Clinton both aligned to a candidate, Gore has a role to serve as the neutral elder statesman in the party.

If an agreement needs to be struck between Clinton and Obama down the road, Gore is in position to be the likely facilitator of that discussion.

My source says the report is correct. Basically, Gore appears to be preserving for himself the option of stepping in and declaring a winner in the event of a war over superdelegates, and thus being seen as a kind of mediating figure, rather than as someone trying to influence the outcome.

Within the Democratic race, Al Gore is perhaps the most coveted endorsement a candidate could get. However, the New York Sun reports that former aides say he's unlikely to actually do it. A main reason is that he would not want to sully his post-politics work in environmental activism by taking risks in the primary.

"In many respects, he has transcended partisan politics," said former staffer Chris Lehane. "I think he'll be extremely sensitive about doing anything that could potentially impact his global brand."

In remarks made to the Norwegian press, Al Gore again insisted he has no interest in entering the 2008 presidential race — and that winning the Nobel Prize did not change his mind.

"I don't have plans to be a candidate again, so I don't really see it in that context at all," Gore said. "I'm involved in a different kind of campaign. It's a global campaign. It's a campaign to change the way people think about the climate crisis."

This isn't encouraging news for those still pining for another Gore candidacy, but the small crack in the door left open by Gore's language ("plans" do change, after all) will likely ensure that this won't be the last time he'll be asked about a potential run.

In case he's still thinking about a presidential run, a new Gallup poll finds that Al Gore's Nobel Prize did not give him any bump in the polls.

Earlier this month, before the Peace Prize was awarded, Gallup's national Democratic polling featuring Gore gave him 10% support. Post-Nobel, he is only at 14%. Furthermore, this statistically insignificant boost appears to have come almost entirely out of Barack Obama's hide, leaving Hillary Clinton unaffected as the national frontrunner — in fact, she went up a point, from 43% to 44%.

Al Gore just gave a speech to the press regarding his Nobel Peace Prize, thanking the Nobel committee and everyone who helped him along the way. He then discussed the importance of the climate change issue, and how crucial it is for society to come together and make a lot of progress as quickly as possible.

Gore did not touch any partisan themes, and was clearly keen to avoid that when he finished his speech and left the room without taking questions — ignoring the reporters who were yelling out and asking whether he'll run for president.

Al Gore seemed to fault his fellow Dems while speaking to reporters at a forum in Singapore, asserting that not one of the Presidential candidates is addressing his pet issue of climate change:

"There is no single candidate that is putting forward a comprehensive argument about the environment or making climate change a priority," Gore said.

Intriguingly, Gore also said that he may not be finished with politics. "I may re-enter politics at some point in the future because I'm only 59 years old," he said. But before you get too excited, he also repeated his frequent asserion that he has no intention to run in 2008.

Al Gore on MSNBC today weighed in on the Libby commutation:

When asked about his reaction President Bush’s decision to spare Vice I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby 30 months in prison, Gore said he thought it was “very disappointing.” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, was convicted of lying to FBI agents investigating the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity to the media.

“I thought it was improper,” Gore said of Bush’s clemency order sparing Libby prison time. “He was charged with knowledge that could incriminate his bosses in the White House, which included the vice president and the president.”

Gore also differentiated between the Libby pardon and President Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich:

Gore said the fact that Libby may or may not have acted on behalf of others in the White House makes the order “different” than President Bill Clinton’s pardons of politically connected criminals during his final days in office.

CQ Politics flags an interesting nugget in the new USA Today/Gallup poll. According to the survey's numbers, Al Gore would siphon equally from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, suggesting that his entry into the race wouldn't necessarily affect the outcome.

"With Gore included, Clinton still handily leads the pack at 33 percent while Obama gets 21 percent to Gore’s 18 percent, a statistical dead heat for second place," CQ says. "Take Gore out of the equation and the Gallup poll shows Clinton at 39 percent and Obama at 26 percent."

Of course, if Gore did enter the race, he'd have a chance to, you know, actually do a bit of campaigning, which might change the equation in all sorts of unforeseen ways over time.

From a new interview with Al Gore in Time magazine:

"If I do my job right, all the candidates will be talking about the climate crisis. And I'm not convinced the presidency is the highest and best role I could play. The path I see is a path that builds a consensus—to the point where it doesn't matter as much who's running. It would take a lot to disabuse me of the notion that my highest and best use is to keep building that consensus."

What it would take, specifically?

"I can't say because I'm not looking for it. But I guess I would know it if I saw it. I haven't ruled it out. But I don't think it's likely to happen."

As Time notes, it's in Gore's interest to "keep the door ajar." But as we reported here recently, many of Gore's closest associates have all but concluded that he isn't going to make the race.

Naah. Not happening. Al Gore's camp is denying a report saying that his friends have "secretly started assembling a campaign team in preparation for the former American vice-president to make a fresh bid for the White House." The report is now one of the lead stories on the Drudge Report and is being played up elsewhere.

But Gore spokesperson Kalee Kreider emails us this: "There is not a secret campaign operation in Nashville or any other part of the country to mobilize a campaign...other than that which the former Vice President has stated, to mobilize the American people to address the climate crisis."

Adds former Gore adviser Michael Feldman: "Pure fantasy."

Just in case you didn't know this already.

Here's another sign that suggests Al Gore may have decided to sit out the Presidential race: One of his longtime supporters has just given a campaign check to another Presidential candidate — apparently with the tacit approval of Gore himself.

The Boston Globe reports reports that Debby Butler, a key Gore backer from New Hampshire and a longtime activist in the state, has sent a check for $1,000 to Barack Obama. The kicker is that according to the Globe, Butler even got in touch with Gore's office and double-checked to see if he would be okay with her making donations to other candidates. The answer, obviously, was Yes.

Guess who's watching Al Gore's waist: Camp Hillary insiders! Camp Hillary is eyeing the former Vice President's fluctuating waistline as a sign of his intentions for 2008, Newsday reports. Apparently, Hillary aides think that if Gore sheds pounds it could be a sign he's moving towards running, whereas if he gains weight it could mean he's not.

"If he's running, he'll start losing weight fast," a Clinton insider told the paper. In a rejoinder that could be interpreted as less than flattering to the Vice President, the insider added: "Judging from where he is now, I'd say he's not running."

Here are few updates on the movements of the Presidential hopefuls (and others, too):

* Former Vice President Al Gore is expected to announce a series of concerts "bigger than Live Aid" tommorow that will seek to raise awareness about climate change. The concerts will take place on July 7 in seven cities including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto.

* Sen. John McCain will make his first 2007 trip to Iowa next weekend. McCain will also travel to South Carolina on Feb. 18 while his wife, Cindy McCain travels to New Hampshire around the same time in his place. Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former MA Gov. Mitt Romney will also visit South Carolina during the following week. A straw poll of SC Republicans set for March 1st, which is expected to draw 2,000 people, could explain why the GOP frontrunners are all visiting the Palmetto state so close to each other.

* CNN will host a Democratic debate in Nevada on November 4th, 2007.

* The New Mexico attorney general issued an opinion today that Gov. Bill Richardson's fundraising for the Democratic Presidential primary does not conflict with a state ban on fundraising during the legislative session.

* Sen. Hillary Clinton will fundraise in San Fransisco on Feb. 23, charging $250 a head.

* John Edwards is holding a town hall meeting in South Carolina today to discuss his universal health care proposal, Mitt Romney is making various stops across Iowa, Rudy Giuliani is fundraising in New Jersey, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to the World Money Show in Florida and both Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson are speaking in Washington, DC.

* Meanwhile, Giuliani will be making various stops in California in the days ahead as he seeks to broaden his fundraising base beyond the Tri-State area, which accounts for three-fourths of the money he has raised.

* Sen. Joe Biden will make his first trip to Iowa as an announced candidate on Feb. 16.

* Ohio state Sen. Eric Kearney is organizing a fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama in Cincinnati on Feb. 26 that will charge between $100 and $2,300 per ticket. Kearney's wife, Jan-Michele Kearney, was in Obama's class at Harvard Law School and the couple attended Obama's wedding.

* When former AR Gov. Mike Huckabee visits New Hampshire on Friday, he will focus on fiscal policy with special attention paid to defending himself against the anti-tax Club for Growth, who released a 5-page report critical of Huckabee's record on taxes and government regulation as Governor of Arkansas after he decided to explore a Presidential run.

* Rep. Dennis Kucinich began distributing a 15-minute campaign DVD after his Feb. 2 speech before the Democratic National Committee. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has the video here.

* Sen. Sam Brownback has won the endorsement of grammy award-winning contemporary Christian singer/songwriter Michael W. Smith, who will act as a surrogate for the campaign.

Al Gore has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, the Associated Press reports. Gore was selected jointly by Norwegian political leaders from both the Conservative and Socialist parties, who are both qualified nominators. The former Vice President was picked because of his efforts to bring attention to global warming, both as an active politician and in private life — most notably through his movie An Inconvenient Truth, according to Conservative Member of Parliament Boerge Brende, who called climate change "the biggest challenge we face in this century."

An interesting footnote: This makes Gore to our knowledge the only movie-maker who's been nominated for both a Nobel Prize and an Oscar on the strength of a single movie.

Here are a few quick updates on the Presidential candidates:

* Sam Brownback, who's come out against the "surge," is calling for a flat tax. We couldn't help but notice that this suggests he's targeting an interesting, if rare, sort of voter: Anti-surge Evangelical flat-taxers.

* Mitt Romney has landed the support of Vin Weber, a top Republican lobbyist and former Congressman from Minnesota.

* John McCain has officially picked up the endorsement of Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who will co-chair his exploratory commitee.

* Hillary Clinton is in Afghanistan today, meeting with General Pervez Musharraf, the President of neighboring Pakistan.

* Duncan Hunter has told CNN he will declare his candidacy for President at the end of the month, and will make the announcement in South Carolina.

* Joe Biden is using the occasion of Martin Luther King Day to call upon South Carolina to remove the Confederate Flag from the Statehouse grounds.

Update: Reuters is reporting that Al Gore has reiterated that he will not run for President in 2008.

Most polling tests who Americans want as the next President — but here's a new poll that has measured which candidate people think will win in 2008. A new Rasmussen poll asked voters who they believe the next President will be, and here are the results:

* John McCain (R) 19%
* Hillary Clinton (D) 17%
* John Edwards (D) 14%
* Rudy Giuliani (R) 14%
* Barack Obama (D) 14%
* Mitt Romney (R) 3%
* Al Gore (D) 3%
* Someone Else 9%

Given all the punditry out there holding that Hillary may be unelectable and that McCain is the favorite for the GOP nomination, it's particularly interesting that a President John McCain is predicted by only two percent more than foresee a President Hillary Clinton.

Meanwhile, 42% of Republicans think McCain will be their nominee, ahead of 34% who think it will be Giuliani. Among Dems, Hillary Clinton leads the expectations race with 41%, trailed far behind by John Edwards with 24%.

From Ned Lamont to Macaca, the internet is clearly gaining in importance with every new campaign season, so we here at Election Central thought it might be helpful to compile a list of blogs covering the 2008 presidential election on the local level. We've pulled together blogs ranging from professional newspapers covering the primaries in their state to lone individuals supporting their candidate of choice. Each offers a unique perspective on the dynamics of the already burgeoning race for the White House in 2008. Take a look.

Read more »

A reporter for The New York Observer blog The Politicker ran into Albert Gore III last night at a magazine party and asked him a few questions. Gore III said in no uncertain terms that his dad isn't running for President in 2008:

"The political environment right now is incredibly toxic," said Mr. Gore..."There's way too much money involved. It's not one person, one vote any more. It's really one dollar one vote or something equivalent to that. The more money you have the more power you have in politics, and the type of populism that my grandfather, I guess, conducted himself with, and the same with my father - I'm not sure there's as much room for that as there was. And, I don't know, I don't plan to go into politics for a lot of the same reasons - well, I don't know all of his reasons - but I know that he has no plans to run in 2008."

So, the reporter asked, he's definitely not running?

"Well, I guess I have to add his addendum. I think the way he always says it is, 'I don't see any circumstances under which I would run for president.'"

Sounded exactly like his old man, no question.

Is there any chance Al Gore might jump into the race, despite recent denials? James Carville thinks so — indeed, he is predicting flatly that Gore is definitely in. According to The Hotline, Carville appeared the American Democracy Conference and gave a talk which included this:

"We're going to have five larger-than-life candidates running for President. McCain, Giuliani, Hillary Clinton, Obama and Al Gore. And you want to make it interesting, you might have Newt Gingrich in it."

Carville also offered an interesting take on the GOP primary:

"There is no clear Republican frontrunner," which Carville calls an historical anomaly. Not since 1940 has the Republican Party not annointed its standardbearer years in advance. Republicans, Carville said, aren't used to divisive, competitive primaries.