Robert Reich: Gore May Enter Race At Oscars

It would certainly be exciting for Al Gore to go up on stage to win the Oscar and announce he is running for President. Robert Reich writes that this is a possibility on his blog:

The odds are better than 50-50 that Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” will win an Oscar for best documentary at next Sunday’s Academy Awards. The odds are better than one in three that, when accepting the Oscar, and while being watched by 29 million people, Gore will announce he is running for president in 2008.

I agree with his odds regarding the Oscar, but I’m betting that if Gore decides to enter the race he will wait longer. The speculation about him possibly running keeps him in the headlines, bringing attention to his planned concerts to promote climate change research. It will also help increase sales of his upcoming book, The Assault on Reason, which in tern might increase interest in him as a candidate even further.
Gore has enough name recognition and support that there is no need to set himself up as a target this early. Let Clinton, Obama, and Edwards establish a circular firing squad to knock each down a bit, while suffering additional pot shots from the second tier candidates. Let the others suffer the type of media scrutiny received by candidates. Gore has plenty of time to watch how the race develops and see what his chances are before deciding to enter. Why enter the race if it doesn’t look like he can win risk being seen as a loser, in contrast to his current reputation as the man who actually won in 2000 but was denied the Presidency? Besides, on top of the Oscar he just might have a Nobel Peace Prize this fall, although he might not be able to wait that long to decide upon running.

Gore has plenty of time to decide upon running. While an announcement at the Oscars would make a tremendous impact, a Gore announcement at any point would also be big news.

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