Al Gore as Andrew Jackson

(this article was partially reprinted in the Sunday, March 26, 2006 issue of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Is history calling Gore back into White House politics?

By Scott Shepard
Cox News Service
Tuesday, March 21, 2006

WASHINGTON — Is history calling Al Gore back into the political fray? History says candidates who won the popular vote but lost in the electoral college have all gotten their revenge with wins in subsequent elections. And now, after years of calling himself a "recovering politician," Gore is flirting again with politics.

Or is he?

Even those who were part of his inner circle in 2000 when Gore lost the White House to George W. Bush in one of the closest and perhaps most controversial presidential elections in American history still don't have a clear idea what the former vice president is thinking in terms of a 2008 campaign.

"I do not know for sure if he's looking or flirting," Donna Brazile, his 2000 campaign manager, said in an interview Monday. "But, I have an opinion - Gore remains a headliner and can raise money and rally the base. (But) it's hard for Gore to rule out running again before looking at the landscape."

Speculation about Gore's intentions has intensified in recent weeks due to three events: his Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday speech in January lambasting the president for "breaking the law" with his warrantless domestic surveillance program; his message to Democratic donors in February soliciting funds for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee; and his party fund-raising appearances this month in Florida, the scene of the controversial voter recount that led to a Supreme Court ruling that made Bush president in the 2000 election.

Gore's activities prompted pollster Lee Miringoff to include Gore in a recent poll on possible Democratic 2008 contenders. It found Gore was second only to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, suggesting his reputation with the party has improved significantly since his 2000 loss to Bush. Clinton was the favorite of 33 percent, Gore was the choice of 17 percent.

"The numbers suggest that a case could be made for Mr. Gore in 2008 ... though it's a little unclear what he may have in mind," Miringoff said in an interview. "Clearly, he is someone to be watched, especially as an alternative to Hillary Clinton."
Chris Lehane, who was Gore's chief spokesman in the vice presidential office and later in the presidential campaign, noted in an interview that "Gore has been pretty public that he does not intend to run in 2008" and, he added, "I do think that this is indeed where his head is right now."

But political analysts, in considering the prospect of a Gore comeback, cite the historic precedents of candidates who won the popular vote but lost the electoral college vote, only to win later: Andrew Jackson, losing in 1824 and winning in 1828, and Grover Cleveland, denied in 1888 but triumphant in 1892.

Gore "may be a man whose time has come in his party," Dick Morris, a political adviser to Bill Clinton for 20 years, wrote recently in his column for The Hill newspaper. "Like a completely refurbished 'pre-owned vehicle,' Al Gore seems to be positioning himself to Hillary Clinton's left and greener than John Kerry ... His slogan might well read 're-elect Al Gore.'"

Longtime Republican operative Roger Stone Jr. made similar points in a column he wrote in February for the New York Observer, citing "uncanny parallels" in the careers of Gore and Richard Nixon, who narrowly lost the White House in 1960 but rebounded to win it in 1968. Nixon's "persistence, drive and shrewdness, coupled with a divisive war, drove the most remarkable political comeback in American history" in 1968 and could "do the same" in 2008, Stone wrote.

But Brazile acknowledged that while Gore "is a natural champion and can debate the best of them in both parties," there are "some voters (who) want a complete break from the past and may not look favorably on a return to the political fight" by the 2000 nominee.

Gore's office in Nashville did not respond to telephone inquiries Monday, but the former vice president has previously told The Associated Press that he has "no plans to seek the presidency in 2008."

There is no evidence he is assembling any kind of campaign organization. In a recent survey of Gore's friends and organizers in New Hampshire, James Pindell, managing editor of PoliticsNH.com, found none had been contacted about 2008. "They seem to be convinced he is not running" and will not visit the state, which traditionally hosts the first presidential primary, Pindell said Monday.

Occasionally, in fact, Gore even seems like an anti-candidate. For example, he is scheduled to be in Seattle on Thursday to talk about global warming, but he has insisted on no press coverage, sparking some angry newspaper editorials.
However, "in the Internet age, there is the potential for someone with his profile to mount a non-conventional campaign," said Lehane, "someone with a high name identification, someone who could raise money online, someone with prime time experience and someone who could potentially attract support from the angry left."

Scott Shepard is a Washington correspondent for Cox Newspapers.