Gore on Capitol Hill revives speculation about '08 bid

Recent polls put the former vice president in third place among Democrats even though he's not a candidate. But will he run?

from the March 22, 2007 edition

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The unprecedentedly early start to the 2008 presidential campaign means that the public could tire of the candidates currently out there running. In particular, in the top tier, Senators Clinton and Obama are in a bruising fight, and that could breed some dissatisfaction with their supporters.

"It's also true that even if people stay satisfied with their options, Gore's entry would transform the race," says Mr. Geer.

On Iraq, the No. 1 issue of public concern, Gore has been a high-profile critic of the war from the start, unlike Clinton. Obama, too, opposed the war from the start, but at the time he was just an Illinois state senator.

On the plus side for Gore, unlike just about anyone else who may jump into the Democratic nomination race late, he has a ready-made network of donors and strategists and could likely be competitive financially and organizationally with the other top-tier candidates. Of course, some of his network overlaps with that of the wife of the former president under whom Gore served, and so a Gore run would unleash an internecine battle like no other in the Democratic ranks.

But on Capitol Hill Wednesday, the topic was all climate change, where the former congressman and senator from Tennessee warned of looming catastrophe if immediate action is not taken. Since the Demo-cratic takeover of Congress earlier this year, members have introduced a raft of legislation aimed at reducing carbon and other emissions.

"I want to testify today about what I believe is a planetary emergency – a crisis that threatens the survival of our civilization and the habitability of the Earth," Gore told a joint hearing of two House committees. "The consequences are mainly negative and headed toward catastrophe unless we act."

He added that he believed it was not too late to address climate change. The film "An Inconvenient Truth" about Gore's crusade won the Academy Award for best documentary last month.

The last time Gore appeared in the Capitol was in 2001, when he presided over the certification of his December 2000 loss to George W. Bush in the Electoral College. That disputed election result remains a painful memory for Democrats, and some party activists blame Gore for not winning easily during a time of peace and prosperity – and in particular, losing in his home state of Tennessee.

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