ABC News reports that the Gore camp was meeting to discuss a 2008 run, except without Al Gore:
The Gore camp might be playing coy, but the Associated Press reports that supporters of his campaigns past met in Boston Thursday to mull a potential Gore run in 2008.
Though the tone of the meeting was described as informal by one of the attendees, Chris Mackin, a Boston consultant and Gore supporter, told the A.P. it was “an early stage conversation” and added: “We’re very serious about exploring this.”
Gore himself is finishing his book, The Assault on Reason, scheduled to be published in May. The former Vice President is also scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill next month on global warming.
While Gore still says he’s not running, he will continue to receive considerable coverage this year, making it easier to jump into the race later on:
Daley [an advisor to Barack Obama’s campaign] describes the 2008 campaign season as “a marathon, not a sprint.” As the formal candidates reach their stride, Gore’s schedule — jam-packed with a stroll down the red carpet at the Academy Awards, a book release in May, and the December Nobel Prize announcement — will, if not heighten, surely sustain the buzz surrounding his candidacy.
Yet another event is to be announced:
A series of concerts “bigger than Live Aid” is being planned for July, in a bid to put the subject of climate change before an audience of a global audience of 2bn.
The event, scheduled for July 7, will feature co-ordinated film, music and television events in seven cities including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto, with major broadcasters and media owners aiming to extend the reach of public awareness of global warming.
It is understood that former US vice-president Al Gore, whose movie An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change to cinema audiences last year, will announce the event tomorrow in London.
The organisers hope to involve up to 2.5m people in events and link-ups at the cities involved, as well as other locations.
They are promising a line-up of artists to “dwarf” that of the Live8 and Live Aid concerts, thought to be branded under the name “SOS”.
Update: More from AP
So Ron — if Gore threw his hat in the ring, would you be a supporter? I think I would.
I’d still want to hear from all the candidates before deciding.
Realistically, if Gore gets in he immediately becomes the main anti-Hillary candidate and I’m not sure any of the other candidates can survive (unless Gore waits a long time and someone else has become much stornger by then). I’d still compare the current positions of the two, but it is much more likely I’d go for Gore than Hillary unless Gore winds up taking some stands I don’t like and/or Hillary changes some of the things I havn’t liked about her.
Al’s going to Toronto in a few days. Maybe the concerts will be like the Live 8 – G8 GDPtax?
The money-raising window is closing.
Gore has to make a choice soon or the support train will have moved on.
With his name recognition and level of support, Gore has until fall. If he remains in the news for the next several months he will be in a better position going into the primaries than lesser known candidates who might have raised the money to buy a few more commercials.
As for me, I whole-heartedly campaigned for Al Gore before and I’d do it again. That said, I have serious doubts he’ll run, although anything’s possible. And if he does run, well, it would be sweet, for many reasons, even just watching corporate media scramble to bring all their old disingenuous “Al Gore is…” memes back to life. If he runs, I hope he grows his beard out again, too.