Earlier in the week I wrote about speculation that Al Gore might announce plans to run for President should he be on stage to accept an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth. While Gore won’t get the backing of the last Democratic president for obvious reasons, he does have the backing of a previous one. Jimmy Carter, in an interview to appear on This Week, expresses his support for Gore:
Carter told ABC News, “If Al should decide to run — which I’m afraid he won’t — I would support Al Gore.”
The former Democratic President asserted Gore could accomplish much more in the White House than he ever could as a private citizen, saying to Stephanopoulos, “His burning issue now is global warming and preventing it. He can do infinitely more to accomplish that goal as in the incumbent in the White House, than he can making even movies that get — you know, that get Oscars.”
While he has been pushing for him to run, Carter does not believe this is likely to happen:
Despite public pressure from Carter and others, the former President does not believe Gore will make a second bid for the White House saying, “I don’t think he will. I’ve put so much pressure on Al to run that he’s almost gotten aggravated with me.”
Carter told Stephanopoulos that he had not called Gore “lately” adding, “He almost told me, the last time I talked, ‘Don’t call me anymore.'”
Carter joked that Gore had offered to support him in 2008 and referred to Gore as “my favorite” in the interview, concluding, “I really have not expressed any public approval or endorsement or preference for any of the Democratic candidates except (Gore).”
