December 8, 2003
GAME, SET, MATCH:
Gore To Back Dean (CBS, Dec. 8, 2003)
CBS News has confirmed that former Vice President Al Gore plans to endorse former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.The announcement is expected Tuesday during a joint appearance in Harlem.
Say what you will about the Clintons, but they seem concerned about the Party, while Mr. Gore would seem to have picked the most anti-Bush candidate for that reason alone.
MORE:
Gore endorsing Dean, not Lieberman (NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES, 12/08/03)
The endorsement has advantages and disadvantages for Gore, sources close to the former vice president told NBC News Andrea Mitchell.Posted by Orrin Judd at December 8, 2003 7:17 PMThe sources described the endorsement as a way for Gore to maneuver himself to challenge former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, for supremacy within the Democratic Party. Sources close to the Clintons said Monday that they would not make endorsements in the primary race.
It will also make Gore a behind-the-scenes power broker in the Dean campaign, the Gore sources said, and could position him to challenge Hillary Clinton for the 2008 nomination should Dean lose the general election next year.But the sources acknowledged that the endorsement could be viewed as disloyal to Lieberman, who waited until after Gore made his decision last December not to run before embarking on his own candidacy. It also was seen as a slap at Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who gave Gore a significant boost when he endorsed Gore in New Hampshire in 2000.
Gore has always had poor judgment, and now he's chained himself to the anchor that will sink his political reputation for good.
Posted by: pj at December 8, 2003 9:10 PM> Say what you will about the Clintons, but they seem concerned about the Party,
Huh???
Posted by: Kirk Parker at December 9, 2003 1:36 AMKirk:
They're trying to find a candidate who can keep it in one piece--so that Hillary has something to lead.
Posted by: oj at December 9, 2003 8:27 AMThis must worry Dean. He might question What he has done to deserve this?
Posted by: genecis at December 9, 2003 10:20 AMThe real news is that this isn't much news. The Machiavellian viewpoint is that Gore wants a catastrohic defeat for the Dems so he can ride to the rescue as the prez nominee in 2008. Lots of comparisons to Nixon in 1960-68 are heard.
The kinder view is that Gore is just letting his inner liberal out.
The realistic view is that it doesn't make any diff. Bush's approval ratings are on the rise along with the economy. The latest Gallup numbers show significant improvement in Bush's economic approval (practically a 50-50 split) and very good ratings on the top issue - by Gallup's reckoning - of terrorism. The overall result is a very comfortable and noticeably improved 55% approval rating.
Barring a major terrorist attack on American soil or a catastrophic worsening of the situation in Iraq, the improving economy will carry Bush to an easy win in 2004. Gore's endorsement of Dean, whatever its motivation, will be a long-forgotten footnote.
Posted by: Casey Abell at December 9, 2003 10:54 AMThe closest I can come to a pro-Gore spin on this thing is that he has decided that the only chance the party has is to coalesce around one candidate as early as possible, so that they don't spend the first half of 2004 sniping at each other.
Posted by: David Cohen at December 9, 2003 12:18 PMKind of like coalescing in the boiler room of the Titanic.
Posted by: oj at December 9, 2003 12:22 PM