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A stiff vice president campaigns on his administration's legacy of unprecedented prosperity. Looks terrible on TV. Bows out, following a disputed vote count. Then, two terms later, with no incumbent in the race, he re-enters the fray. Promises to change the course of a disastrous war founded on lies. And charges to victory. I'm referring, of course, to the 1968 campaign of Richard Milhous Nixon. But four decades later, history has a chance to repeat itself for Albert Arnold Gore.

If the Democrats were going to sit down and construct the perfect candidate for 2008, they'd be hard-pressed to improve on Gore. Unlike Hillary Clinton, he has no controversial vote on Iraq to defend. Unlike Barack Obama and John Edwards, he has extensive experience in both the Senate and the White House. He has put aside his wooden, policy-wonk demeanor to emerge as the Bush administration's most eloquent critic. And thanks to An Inconvenient Truth, Gore is not only the most impassioned leader on the most urgent crisis facing the planet, he's also a Hollywood celebrity, the star of the third-highest-grossing documentary of all time.

"He's perceived very differently now than he was six years ago," says Frank Luntz, the Republican consultant who advised George W. Bush to dispute global warming during the 2000 and 2004 elections. "He's an icon. Imagine that: Al Gore, Mr. Straight and Narrow, Mr. Dull on Wheels -- now he's culturally cool."

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He's a nice guy in some ways, but as a campaigner he's inept. He shares Martin's inability to utilize allies (he almost won when he finally let Clinton out of the basement the last week of the 2000 campaign), and he misses the easy puts. Let's bring up an easy one. Gore was the star quarterback in high school. W was, literally, a male cheerleader. Now, strictly from a Macchiavellian sense, when trying to win the good ol' boy vote, why wouldn't you, y'know, mention that? Similarly, W works hard to cultivate his cowboy image "clearing brush, " but why didn't Gore point out that nobody's ever seen W on ahorse? or play that footage where W gets scared in the presence of... a cow? ...And that gaddam "lockbox" that he kept blathering about weeks after it made him a laughing stock.

And y'know, a lot of people still remember how his wife appointed herself the nation's censor in the 80s. I'm sure that didn't exactly help motivete civil libertarians to get to the polls. And that kiss at the convention... uggh.

even his own dad said "ya got no stardust, kid."

[ 13 February 2007: Message edited by: minkepants ]

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Originally posted by minkepants:
... he almost won when he finally let Clinton out of the basement the last week of the 2000 campaign...

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Originally posted by Scott Piatkowski:
He did win.

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