Al Gore

Tomorrow night marks the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C. Members of the press corps (including some Media Mob contributors who are already on their way—note low posting rate today!) will have a chance to clink glasses with the president and his cabinet and remind themselves that despite five years of war, an economy some are already calling a Depression, and a painful slog of an election season, it's all in good fun. L'chaim! To us!

This year's event will be emceed by CBS Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson, whom the W.H.C.A.'s president (and ABC News correspondent), Ann Compton, is really excited about: "Craig Ferguson is a fresh take on late night TV. As a new citizen, a first-time uncommitted voter and someone who has looked at American politics from the outside, I am looking forward to his unique take on our system."

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Councilman and candidate for public advocate Eric Gioia, of Queens, held his 35th birthday celebration and “green” campaign kick off at the W Hotel’s Whiskey Bar in Times Square last night. His guest list included Morgan Spurlock, writer and director of Super Size Me (who appeared in an ad recently), and Karenna Gore Schiff, daughter of Al.

Gore Schiff was in charge of the birthday introduction, while Gioia spent most of the evening surrounded by supporters bouncing with American Idol enthusiasm.  read more »

In politics, what is accurate is not always fair and what is fair is not always accurate.

So it is that a deliberate distortion of a quotation from John McCain about Iraq—his supposed promise of a “100-year” war—may well sink his campaign in a way that the simple facts of his record and position should, but otherwise wouldn’t.  read more »

Councilman Eric Gioia is throwing a "give what you can" fund-raiser birthday party with his "good friend, author and activist Karenna Gore Schiff," also the daughter of Al Gore.

Part of the (painfully?) colorful invitation that isn't picture here says, "We are proud to go green. The Gioia campaign is the first carbon neutral campaign in NYC history."  read more »

History may record that there were three distinct windows of opportunity for Al Gore to play a decisive role in this year’s Democratic primary contest.

The first was in the days leading up to Super Tuesday, on Feb. 5, when it seemed Barack Obama could do no wrong and a critical mass of establishment endorsements was piling up in his favor.  read more »

“I say to President-elect Bush that what remains of partisan rancor must now be put aside, and may God bless his stewardship of this country,” Al Gore said on December 13, 2000.

Well, George W. Bush didn’t listen to Al Gore’s advice, and neither so much did God. But Ralph Nader evidently took it as holy writ.  read more »

When Bill Clinton pointed out yesterday, while talking about Barack Obama's South Carolina victory, that Jesse Jackson won the state in 1984 and 1988, the former President got plenty of attention.

Clinton seemed to be encouraging the perception that Obama won because of support from black voters, and that his victory was more about racial allegiances than substance.

He was also misrepresenting history.

It's true that Jackson won South Carolina in '84 and '88. But Clinton failed to mention several key points. For one, the state held caucuses back in those days, not primaries, and they attracted only a fraction of the participation that yesterday's primary did. Also, Jackson is a native of Greenville, South Carolina, which gave him an extra advantage. Finally, and most importantly, no one campaigned against Jackson either time, and the contests had nowhere near the same significance to the race.  read more »

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Al Gore's Current TV is invading Manchester and they're employing local kids to spread the word.

A 24-year-old reporter with blonde pigtails and a 29-year-old video man with a cherub face were inside Merrimack Restaurant in downtown Manchester looking for other 20-somethings to interview.  read more »

Some context might be helpful as Bill Shaheen, a prominent New Hampshire Democrat and the husband of former Governor (and 2008 Senate candidate) Jeanne Shaheen, does the Clinton campaign's bidding in an effort to raise doubts about Barack Obama's character.

Shaheen, a Hillary supporter who often accompanies the candidate on her trips to New Hampshire, is pointedly raising the issue of Obama's admissions of past drug use, according to the Washington Post:  read more »

Tonight, Alicia Keys, Kylie Minogue, Annie Lennox and Melissa Etheridge are in Oslo, Norway, taking part in a concert honoring current Nobel Peace laureates Al Gore and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Ms. Lennox, addressing a crowd at today’s event, asked: “Can celebrities save the world? It rankles. What kind of place are we in when people are looking to Hollywood or celebrities to save the world?”

Perhaps Uma Thurman and Kevin Spacey can help answer that question. After all, the two actors co-hosted the performance, which itself is meant to draw attention to what the former vice president calls a “planetary emergency.” Speaking at a press conference today, Ms. Thurman, 37, said, “The whole point is to raise awareness and communicate with everyone else in the world and share our concern for the planet.” She went on, “What we are hearing is that everyone needs to get very much involved with climate. It's coming to us. It's coming to a theater near us, very, very near us.” And Mr. Spacey, the cagey actor who currently oversees artistic affairs at London’s Old Vic theater, brought up an eco-friendly project that his playhouse is working on, called “Go for Green.” According to the 48-year-old thespian, the effort will culminate in a play that means to better educate young audiences on problems facing the environment. “I think that showing up at an event like this is important because there are going to be so many young people tuning in to this concert,” he said.  read more »

Barack Obama issued the following statement as Al Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize today in Norway:

"By having the courage to challenge the skeptics in Washington and lead on the climate crisis facing our planet, Al Gore has advanced the cause of peace and richly deserves the Nobel Prize he's receiving today. His voice and his vision have awakened the conscience of America to the urgency of this threat, and now we must take bold action so that our children inherit a planet that is cleaner, safer, and more peaceful for generations to come."

Which certainly won't do any harm to his relations with the former vice president, who has yet to make an endorsement for 2008.

Former Vice President Al Gore called on television executives, producers and performers to help warn viewers about global warming as he accepted a special honor last night at the 35th International Emmy Awards at the Hilton New York. Robert De Niro introduced Gore as this year's recipient of the International Emmy Founders Award for his efforts to promote "our common humanity."  read more »

Al Gore will be taking an office downstairs from developer Douglas Durst, as his investment firm Generation Investment Management is planning a move from its Washington, D.C., offices to the Durst Organization’s Bank of America Tower.  read more »

Here's a scouting report from some local Al Gore supporters who are trying to get their candidate on the presidential primary ballot here.

From an email from Bud Plautz, chairman of the Primary Petition Drive for Al Gore in New York:

"The early reports are good. We are on our way to putting Al Gore on the ballot.

"Monroe County reported that they collected 150 signatures on Saturday at the local Public Market. Not surprisingly, the Unwashed Upper West Side of Manhattan reports collecting 170 signatures on Saturday. In addition, I have in hand 139 signatures, led by Sue Ellen Dockery of Brooklyn who collected 80 signatures in the early hours of the first day of petitioning before going to work that morning."

Manhattan activist and judicial delegate candidate Alan Flacks is a writer of countless emails about local political happenings (sort of a pre-blog blogger) and a permanent fixture in the local Manhattan political scene (updated).

Usefully, he's kept tabs on the presidential-endorsement votes of three Manhattan political clubs which, perhaps typically of Manhattan political clubs, showed signs of tension among the members between straight party loyalty amd reformist idealism.

 

According to Flacks, the Broadway Democrats endorsed Hillary Clinton after two rounds of voting. (Barack Obama didn’t make it past the first round). The Three Parks Democratic Club didn‘t have enough members for a vote, but among the ones who did vote, John Edwards came out on top with 25 percent. He was followed closely by “no endorsement,” Al Gore and Bill Richardson. And the Community Free Democrats decided not to endorse anyone.

Flacks' full write-up, with numbers, is after the jump.

UPDATE: A reader on the East Side emails: "The Lex Club endorsed Hillary on 10/25. She got 69% of the vote."  read more »

Al Gore, I implore you: avoid plastic surgery, or risk being mistaken for a member of the ‘Muffia.’ Not that there’s anything wrong with that....  read more »

Once again last week Al Gore stepped back into the news in a big way. Once again pundits speculated that it might signal an impending presidential candidacy. And once again, nothing came of it.  read more »

Well that didn't take long.

Here's the new and improved pitch from the publicists pushing The World According to Gore: The Incredible Vision of the Man Who Should Be President:

"Three down. One to go. Oscar. Emmy. And now the Nobel Peace Prize. Al Gore can complete the Grand Slam by declaring his candidacy for president. With this latest accomplishment, which he shared with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Draft Gore movement has been given a huge steroid-like boost. "Will he or won't he run?" For the past few weeks, it's been the question creating tremors of mounting interest on the left side of the Net. Now the entire media all wants to know.

And so on.

Bill Clinton just realeased the following statement congratulating Al Gore for winning the Nobel Peace Prize:

"Al Gore has been warning and educating us about the dangers of climate change for decades. He saw this coming before others in public life and never stopped pushing for action to save our planet, even in the face of public indifference and attacks from those determined to defend the indefensible. His tireless advocacy and his Academy Award-winning film have inspired countless people around the world to join the fight against climate change. I am thrilled by this well-deserved recognition and am grateful to the Nobel Committee for awarding the Peace Prize to him and to those doing ground-breaking work at the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change."

Earlier today, Hillary Clinton came out with her own congratulatory remarks, featured prominently on the homepage of her web site.

Al Gore can now add a Nobel Peace Prize to the litany of consolations he's won since losing the presidency to George W. Bush.

It's not clear whether the prize will have any impact on Gore's presidential ambitions -- his closest supporters all say that he has no intention of running -- but the prize will insure that we'll see his name popping up into the 2008 storyline for at least the next few days.

His statement on winning the prize is after the jump.  read more »

Al Gore, along with the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, it was announced late yesterday.

And now, speculation (and, in some quarters, hope) that he will throw his hat into the 2008 presidential race is rampant. (Our own canvas of people close to Gore, as of yesterday afternoon, made the prospect sound dim.)  read more »

What with the local efforts to get Al Gore on the New York ballot, that full-page ad in the New York Times, his improved standing in the candidate futures market and news that he's cancelling a California meetings to travel abroad for an "exciting and urgent mission" a day before the Nobel Prize announcements, the reemergence of the Al Gore's presidential speculation has become sort of un-ignorable.

At least, that is, until you actually talk to people close to Gore.  read more »

Just as one group is about to start collecting signatures here to get Al Gore on the Democratic presidential primary ballot, another group ran this full-page ad in The New York Times asking him to get in the race.

The ad reads, in part:

“Many good and caring candidates are contending for the Democratic nomination. But none of them has the combination of experience, vision, standing in the world and political courage that you would bring to the job.”

The full-page ad was paid for by DraftGore.com, which is primarily funded by Monica Friedlander, who has been urging him to run for president since at least 2001.

A tax lawyer spearheads the effort to get him on the ballot for Feb. 5.  read more »

The hardy group of New Yorkers trying to draft Mike Bloomberg for president has some company in the category of local activists for non-candidates.

There’s a New York for Al Gore group getting ready to collect petition signatures to get the former vice president on the ballot for New York‘s Democratic primary on February 5.

 

The chairman of that petition drive, Bud Plautz, sent out an email to supporters that a reader (thank you) passed on to me in which he makes the appeal for help.

From the email: "There seems to be a lot of so-called "petitioning" to get Al Gore to run for president. That’s all fine and well. But the petitions referred to on these sites don’t seem to have anything to do with actually putting Al Gore on the Feb. 5th through filing petitions with the NYS Board of Elections."

In an interview, Plautz told me that “Al Gore for sure can win in November of 2008. Indeed, he’s already won. He won in 2000. And then also, on the substantive issues, and I would refer you to his San Francisco speech in September of 2002 for the Iraq war. He predicted everything and what a mistake it is.”

He explained that his group had resolved to proceed with the draft effort after a lunch meeting on the Upper East Side.

“We had a formal meeting at Sharz Restaurant on East 86th Street in late September,“ Plautz recounted. “The owner of the restaurant gave us a discount on lunch. I think I had one beer.”

 

His full email is after the jump.

Is it too late for Al Gore to get in the race?

John Podesta thinks so.

"Yeah," said Podesta, when I caught up with him yesterday at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in midtown. "I don't think he wants to."

At last year's conference, the speculation surrounding Gore's potential bid was very much a running theme.

Podesta, president of the Center for American Progress, former Clinton chief of staff and current Hillary Clinton supporter, said that the enthusiasm for a Gore candidacy had diminished compared to last year, but he also figured that was probably something Gore wanted.

"I think it's changed, but I think he wanted it to change," said Podesta. "He is just going way deep on this one issue. And I think that's what he wanted to do."

More after the jump.  read more »

At Bill Clinton's third annual Clinton Global Iinitiative conference, Al Gore is sitting at the end of a panel next to Bishop Desmond Tutu, wearing his now-trademark shiny black cowboy boots. He plugged Bill Clinton's book on philanthropy (both men made it clear they donate all profits their books make) and received warm applause for urging more participation in the fight against global warming.

Gore said that while corporate participation was key too success, in the end "governments set the rules of the road."  read more »

Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani lead in the race for their parties' nominations for president among Florida voters and are dead even in a head-to-head match-up, according to a new poll out today by Quinnipiac.

Clinton leads her closest Democratic rival in the primary, Barack Obama, by 29 points. Giuliani leads his closest rival, Fred Thompson, by 11. Head-to-head, Clinton and Giuliani are both at 44 percent. In an August poll by Quinnipiac, Clinton edged out Giuliani 46 to 44 percent.

The pollsters suggest that Giuliani may be in trouble because 31 percent of Republican voters in Florida say their decision about whom to support may be affected if a candidate was "divorced more than once."

For the record, Giuliani's marital record goes like this: divorced once, got an annulment before that, and has been married three times.

This was on the bulletin board at the YearlyKos convention happening in Chicago today and over the weekend. Other ads include "blogger wanted, inquire within," posted by the International Brotherhoos of Teamsters, and an invitation to "meet netroots superstar Eric Massa."

Al Gore saves Mother Earth and then wines and dines her in this installment of Observer Comics.

The conventional wisdom – for very good reason – is that John McCain’s presidential campaign is now cooked, and that the only remaining question is whether he’ll drop out early or wait until a few humiliating primary and caucus performances next year.  read more »

Twenty-four hours after a poll placed him as the most popular Democrat in New Hampshire, Al Gore seemed to be very content to stay in his present job: Savior of the planet. Thursday afternoon, Gore descended on the Hearst Building on West 57th Street—Lord Norman Foster’s steel and glass monument to reinvention—and formally announced that, instead of spending this summer raising campaign money and firing off blast faxes, he’ll be participating in a series of concerts called “Live Earth.” Clearly modeled on Bob Geldof’s 1985 Live Aid concerts, and his more recent benefits for debt relief, the concerts will feature the likes of Madonna and the Black Eyed Peas, performing on all seven continents (yes, including Antarctica, provided it doesn’t melt first). The American event will take place on July 7 at Giants Stadium.

(Speaking of which, the Live Earth website currently features a large illustration of a tattooed couple sitting in a bathtub, underneath the headline, “Bathe Together … Do It For The Planet.” One shudders to think of what Al and Tipper might have in store for the next Democratic Convention.)

 

Gore arrived several minutes late -- one cameraman remarked, "he still must be running on Clinton time" -- but when he did, sporting open collar Obama look, standing tall and, yes, pretty stiffly, he spoke with urgency about the threat posed by global warming. "We have to be bolder,” he said, “and we have to go faster."

I walked closer to get a better look at the man who became vice president when I was six. (Ed note: Forget global warming. That’s really scary.) Gore was not smiling -- during the entire event, I only counted three smiles -- and his eyes were even tearing from staring into the darkness. He appeared tired.

The vice president did not comment -- and was asked no questions by the two dozen-plus reporters at the Live Earth press conference -- about his invisible presidential campaign's soaring numbers. But I caught up with his entourage as he was being rushed out of the room--"no, we have to go, thank you!" his assistant was shouting—to ask him about the Michael Bloomberg boomlet. Obviously, Gore has been striking some of the same Washington-is-broken notes himself lately.

"I like Michael Bloomberg," Gore said deliberately, his voice trailing off. "I don't know what other than that would stick."

As for the "stick" part, don't ask: I've listened to my tape recorder 12 times now and that is what he said. Mysterious man, that Al Gore.

In 1993, three months after Bill Clinton’s inauguration, the Ms. Foundation sponsored the first national Take Our Daughters to Work Day. Not that 90’s feminism was particularly feminist—soon enough, American corporations found it worthwhile to let boys know that they too could aspire to work outside the home.  read more »

Here is a new television ad urging lawmakers to support Mike Bloomberg's sustainability plan, also known as PlaNYC. As the ad notes, it's supported by the New York Times, New York Post, Daily News. Oh, and two guys named Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

Here is a quick look at some polls released today:

Hillary Clinton increased her lead over Barack Obama and theoretical candidate Al Gore in New York, according to the Siena Research Institute.

Al Gore is the strongest Democratic candidate against Rudy Giuliani in Pennsylvania, according to the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

And, somewhat randomly, Michael Bloomberg got support 13 percent of the vote from likely voters in Kentucky, according to Rasmussen Reports.

Sort of.  read more »

If anyone has the right to fulminate on the irrationality of American political debate, it’s Al Gore.  read more »

In case you missed it, here is more of what Al Gore said during a discussion at the 92nd Street Y before the weekend about the shortcomings of the media when it comes to covering political campaigns.

Gore first starting articulating the theme of a dysfunctional political press a few years ago, during an earlier book tour.

What follows are excerpts of his conversation with moderator Charlie Rose:

"Actually, the public forum is now crowded with triviality, banality, commercial messages and exploitive strategies for gluing people’s attentions to the screens in order to sell them things. And what is pushed out, even from the major network news casts is a serious discussion of what is at stake. What the invasion of Iraq had in common with the climate process is that in both cases is that there was voluminous evidence well available, well understood in sufficient quantities to convince any reasonable person that the decision that is appropriate and correct is the complete opposite of the decision that was in fact made."

[skip]

"When reason is drawn, is pulled out of the public sphere, it creates a vacuum. And what rushes in is ideology, and extreme partisanship and fundamentalism and extreme nationalism and people who assert they have a direct pipeline to the almighty who has this particular policy to this particular party and that is blasphemy and American herecy."

[skip]

"Not only the politicians, but also a lot of the journalists were actually scared, really scared, that they would be branded unpatriotic."

ROSE:

"If they do what?"

GORE:

"If they gave ample exposure to the well-reasoned arguments to present, for example, when Senator Byrd made that speech, 70 percent of the American people believed that Saddam Hussein was principally responsible for flying those planes into the World Trade Center towers. And the contrary views were given short shrift and it is amply documented, amply documented, news programs, networks, others were advised that if they gave too much exposure to those kinds of arguments, they would lose viewers, lose ratings and lose money."

Read more after the jump.  read more »

Al Gore was interviewed by Charlie Rose last night at the 92nd Street Y. I stopped by. And so did about a thousand people in the audience, who gave Gore a standing ovation when he walked on stage, as well as an organized handful of enthusiasts who are actively trying to draft him into the presidential race.

In a routine that's becoming as predictable as the melting polar ice caps, Gore made a statement leaving the door open for a possible presidential run without acknowledging any specific plans to do so.

But notwithstanding his brief comments on the race -- and despite the flier shown here, which was handed out by volunteers from AlGore.org -- Gore was there primarily to talk about his book, An Assault on Reason, which is already number one on Amazon.

The audience, unlike the media, seemed happy enough to let the former vice president set his own timetable.

Of the presidential speculation, nurse Jen O'Neill of Tudor City said after the presentation that “it's not important at all."

"It’s very early," she said, "and people are still star-struck by Barack and Hillary and you’re not hearing any of the substance yet.”

“I think it would be smart for him to wait it out,” she added.

 

While many of the guests last night at the 20th anniversary reunion dinner for supporters of Al Gore's first presidential campaign wore campaign-style buttons that said "Al Gore reunion 2007," there was little serious talk about Gore entering the 2008 presidential race, according to one attendee.

"People do not perceive him as sending mixed signals," said the guest. "People have a very deep loyalty to him, but they have gotten involved in other campaigns."

That didn't keep the 45 or so veterans of many a presidential campaign from discussing the declared Democratic candidates.

"You can't put together a bunch of jockeys in a room and not talk about horseracing," the guest said.

Attendees at the buffet-style dinner at the Washington house of Gore confidant Peter Knight included Gore's current chief-of-staff Roy Neal, and nationally recognized fund-raisers Mary Pat Bonner, Charles Bone, Carol Pensky, Robert Zimmerman, Orin Kramer and Allan Kessler.

At a press conference this morning to open the Tribeca Film Festival, Al Gore offered a hearty endorsement of Mike Bloomberg’s locally controversial plan to introduce congestion pricing to New York.

 

In response to a reporter’s question, Gore said he agreed with it, and called it one of the more “gutsy” proposals that mayor had offered in his time in office.

In a separate press conference minutes later, the mayor returned the favor, saying that while talk of his own presidential chances were not serious, Gore’s were considerably more real.

“This guy could be a presidential candidate,” he said.

The mayor went on to say that the more candidates voters have to choose from, the better it is for the country.

Bloomberg added, “I hope Al Gore enters the race. I think it would be good for the country.”

The former Vice President comes into New York on a well-timed wave of publicity.  read more »

Hillary Clinton will participate in her first presidential debate on April 26, which Rick Carlin thinks is soon.

When she's at Al Sharpton's event later this month, Hillary will be the only candidate to have her comments broadcast on Sharptons radio show.

Hillary is more worried about Al Gore than Barack Obama, according to Dan Gerstein.

By the way, Gore will be here soon.

The Brennan Center notes that the $25 million Barack Obama raised for his 2008 bid could, if he ran for office in New York, have been raised by as few as 1,381 contributors. Matt Schuerman reports on the city's decision to help build a parking lot with 3,000 additional spots for the new Yankee Stadium, which makes some neighborhood advocates angry.

A DOT official swears she doesn't hate cupcakes, but is just following the law.

George Pataki said "the lessons of New York" could be helpful to the people rebuilding New Orleans, and Cooper wonders how.

The acting executive director of the Nassau County Democratic Party left that position for a new job.

Rockland County Democrats endorsed Ken Zebrowski, Jr. to run for the seat his late father held until recently.

And pictured above is what happens when taxi cabs turn 100 years old.

-- Azi Paybarah

Ecological consciousness has become so big, so fast in the past two years.  read more »

If Hillary Clinton had peeked outside the committee hearing room before taking her seat on the dais  read more »

Hillary Clinton's DC fund-raiser last night raised $2.7 million.

Hillary downplayed that anonymously authored 1984-themed attack video.

Al Gore returns to the Senate for the first time since certifying the electoral college victory of George W. Bush in 2000.

Mayor Bloomberg stood by his comments that the Sean Bell shooting was "inexplicable."

Critics say Bloomberg hasn't addressed the factors that led to the Sean Bell shooting.

The city approved line-of-duty death benefits for the police officer who began working at Ground Zero in December of 2001.

In a message directed at Joe Bruno, Governor Spitzer said, "Smoke and mirrors isn't going to get us a budget."

The public talks about the state budget are stalled; the private talks are about school funding and Medicaid.

A lobbyist's law suit claims the state's lobbying watchdog had a "vendetta" against him.

Freshman Representative Kirsten Gillibrand learns how to earmark.

And the former Brooklyn judged caught on tape accepting a bribe referred to litigants in his chambers as "schmucks," "hustlers" and "crazy and stupid."

-- Azi Paybarah