The Politico: Gore's Oscar Fuels Call for Late Run

[DeepModem Mom]

Gore's Oscar Fuels Call for Late Run
By: Mike Allen
February 26, 2007


Former Vice President Al Gore, left, and actor Leonardo DiCaprio discuss ther Oscars going green during the 79th Academy Awards Sunday, Feb. 25, 2007, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Former Vice President Al Gore's triumph at the Oscars is already stoking activists’ pleas for him to make a dramatic late entry into the fractious presidential race, and some key strategists insist he could announce as late as September or October and still win the nomination.

“Honestly, this was the inaugural parade we all envisioned,” said Donna Brazile, his former campaign manager. “Gore's political stock is hot right now. I don’t know if I would cash in now with so many players still on stage. There’s no reason to force him to declare tomorrow. ”

Indeed, Brazile said the former vice president could wait as late as the time states begin requiring delegate slates and statements of candidacy, since he could raise money quickly and much of the campaigns’ budgets are devoted to a long nominating process he would avoid. "This was one of those rare moments, similar to the civil rights movement, when you experience the ground shifting," she said. "Perhaps it’s not a movement for a presidential run, but a moment for the debate to start for real change on how we live on planet earth."

Friends who talk regularly with Gore say that he believes what he tells the press – that he’s not planning to run for president. Backstage on Sunday night, he repeated his mantra: "I do not have plans to become a candidate for office again." No draft movement is being authorized or encouraged, and there are no internal discussions of a campaign, the friends insist. But they say he has deliberately not closed the door. It just doesn’t feel right to him and he’s only 58....

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0207/2891.html