Would-be Gore voters! The New Hampshire filing deadline is Nov. 2.

[SteppingRazor]

It's pretty safe to say at this point that the man is out.

So ... who ya votin' for? Hillary? Obama? Edwards? Those other guys? Or are you just going to write-in Gore?

What's your take?

[Alexander]

1. What makes you think he needs New Hampshire?

I mean, Hillary is supposed to win the state anyway, right?

[SteppingRazor]

2. So, you think he's going to wait until after he can't run in a state or two, and then jump in?

Don't you consider that a bit unlikely?

[Alexander]

4. Or, in the states where he can't run, perhaps he'll encourage a write-in campaign...

Since he has said if he ever got into politics again it would be because the people wanted him to, I think such an action would be more his style.

[SteppingRazor]

6. OK, then. For sake of argument, what do you do if your state's primary arrives, and he's not in? n/t

[Alexander]

7. I would consider Obama, Dodd and Kucinich, or...

If no candidate jumps out at me by February, I will also consider writing in Gore's name in protest.

But I'd be much more likely to vote for him if he was running.

[Tom Rinaldo]

8. Wishful thinking

The goal line keeps getting pushed back. First Gore would announce after he won the Academy Award, then after he won the Nobel Prize, now it will be after he can say he responded to a write in campaign. There were plausible reasons to think Gore might enter the race in the Summer. There were plausible reasons to think Gore might enter the race in the early Fall. There are no plausbible reasons to think he will enter the race in November, after the NH filing deadline.

I'll give you two final possible scenarios. If somehow no candidate emerges with a majority of candidates from the primaries Gore might then entertain a convention brokered Draft. If something horrible happened to the health of one or more of the current front runners causing them to withdraw, Gore might step in, like McGovern did in 1968. That's about it. I hope no one hopes for the latter.

[Alexander]

9. Gore will be on Jay Leno on 11/8.

If he doesn't announce or give a sign by then, I'll accept that he's not running and probably never will.

However it is not unprecedented to run after primary deadlines.

The very 1968 election you refer to saw both McCarthy and Kennedy miss several primary deadlines, and had RFK not been shot, it's entirely possible he could've won the nomination.

Given the Draft Gore movement's efforts, and Gore's previous statements, if Al did jump in, it wouldn't surprise me if he tested the waters with a single, early write-in campaign.

[Tom Rinaldo]

10. I wish Gore was in this race

I don't mean to sound oppositional. I would rather you were right than me. Back in 1968 the primary season played to very different dynamics. For one thing a lower percentage of delegates were chosen by primaries, and for another thing the bandwagon effect from establishing momentum in the earliest contests was not then a runaway train.

I will agree that if any Democrat can pull off the scenario you hope for, it would be Gore. Peace.

[Alexander]

11. I know. I realize that time is running out fast...

And so while I've always hoped Gore would enter, I've been looking at the other candidates recently so I can have a second choice.

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Hillary is suppsoed to win most states.

If Gore is to win the nomination, he is going to have to win some states.

[Alexander]

5. If he misses a deadline, he could simply encourage a write-in campaign...

for that state.

It would have the dual purpose of circumventing the traditional process and gauging his support among Democrats.

I wouldn't be surprised if he announces after a deadline or two has passed and asks his supporters to write his name in when they vote in those contests.

[AZ Criminal JD]

12. Write-ins on the Presidential level are almost impossible

You don't just write in "Al Gore" someplace. The ballot laws are meant to discourage write-ins so there are various technical rules the voters must follow. To try and educate tens if not hundreds of thousands of voters on these rules is a very steep learning curve. Gore can't win on write-ins. Having said that President Johnson did win the 1968 New Hampshire primary as a write-in against McCarthy (49%-42%)but he was the incumbent President and had the party machinery behind him.