Al Gore, the former Vice President and presidential candidate who won the national popular vote in 2000 has made his first political statement during the bruising presidential primary season. He is moving on from his global warming victory to fully endorse same-sex marriage rights.
In a video released on the Current TV network, Gore gives a forceful endorsement of equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians.
“Gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women… to make contracts, to have hospital visiting rights, to join together in marriage, and I don’t understand why it is considered by some people to be a threat to heterosexual marriage,” he says on the video.
I don’t understand why my marriage or anyone else’s would be threatened by it either. I like this Gore a lot better than Senator Gore, or even Vice President Gore even though I’m not gay.
His endorsement equals that of San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsome who openly flouted the federal Defense of Marriage Act signed into law signed by President Clinton by granting marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
New York’s Governor Eliot Spitzer is another big name Democrat who supports gay marriage.
Some are beginning to wonder if this statement is intended to push the Democratic establishment closer to the equal rights position or if he is trying to shakeup the presidential primary race with an issue all three leading Democratic candidates are uncomfortable with, given the political influence and activity of the liberal gays.
Indeed, the leading Democratic presidential candidates have tiptoed up to, but not crossed, the line of support for same-sex marriage. All three support equal substantive rights for gay and lesbians couples, as they’ve sought to woo gay voters without alienating more conservative voters.
Keep in mind, all leading Republican candidates are against gay marriage, not sure about cross-dressing Rudy Giuliani though, and he reportedly lived with a gay couple about 10 years ago.
In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the U.S.
…
in 2000, the number had fallen to six. Since then, there have been more mergers and the scope has expanded to include new media like the Internet market. More than 1 in 4 Internet users in the U.S. now log in with AOL Time-Warner, the world’s largest media corporation.
In 2004, Bagdikian’s revised and expanded book, The New Media Monopoly, shows that only 5 huge corporations — Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch’s News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom (formerly CBS) — now control most of the media industry in the U.S. General Electric’s NBC is a close sixth.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was created in 1934 with jurisdiction over radio, interstate telephone communication, and later television. But the FCC has always struggled with a fundamental lack of clarity about its proper functions. In its mission to serve the public interest, should the FCC crack down on indecency on the airwaves? Should it use its power to rescind the licenses of wayward stations?
Get background information on some of the FCC’s more recent decisions below:
Local Radio Ownership Rule, National TV Ownership Rule enacted. A broadcaster cannot own television stations that reach more than 35% of the nation’s homes.
1946
Dual Television Network Rule enacted, prohibiting a major network from buying another major network.
1964
Local TV Multiple Ownership Rule enacted, prohibiting a broadcaster from owning more than one television station in the same market, unless there are at least eight stations in the market.
…
1981 [Reagan Presidency]
Reagan Administration deregulation under the leadership of FCC Chairman Mark Fowler. Deregulatory moves, some made by Congress, others by the FCC included extending television licenses to five years from three in 1981. The number of television stations any single entity could owngrew from seven in 1981 to 12 in 1985.
1985 [Reagan Presidency]
Guidelines for minimal amounts of non-entertainment programming are abolished. FCC guidelines on how much advertising can be carried per hour are eliminated.
1987 [Reagan Presidency]
“Fairness Doctrine” eliminated. At its founding the FCC viewed the stations to which it granted licenses as “public trustee” – and required that they made every reasonable attempt to cover contrasting points of views.
…
1996 [Clinton Presidency]
President Clinton signs the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It is generally regarded as the most important legislation regulating media ownership in over a decade. The radio industry experiences unprecedented consolidation after the 40-station ownership cap is lifted.
Does Clinton regret the Media Merger Mania he unleashed?
It’s not clear:
Bill Clinton’s Take On Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal
8/6/2007
The Fallout From the Telecommunications Act of 1996
* Lifted the limit on how many radio stations one company could own. The cap had been set at 40 stations. It made possible the creation of radio giants like Clear Channel, with more than 1,200 stations, and led to a substantial drop in the number of minority station owners, homogenization of play lists, and less local news.
* Lifted from 12 the number of local TV stations any one corporation could own, and expanded the limit on audience reach. One company had been allowed to own stations that reached up to a quarter of U.S. TV households. The Act raised that national cap to 35 percent. These changes spurred huge media mergers and greatly increased media concentration. Together, just five companies – Viacom, the parent of CBS, Disney, owner of ABC, News Corp, NBC and AOL, owner of Time Warner, now control 75 percent of all prime-time viewing.
…
* The Act gave broadcasters, for free, valuable digital TV licenses that could have brought in up to $70 billion to the federal treasury if they had been auctioned off. Broadcasters, who claimed they deserved these free licenses because they serve the public, have largely ignored their public interest obligations, failing to provide substantive local news and public affairs reporting and coverage of congressional, local and state elections.
* The Act reduced broadcasters’ accountability to the public by extending the term of a broadcast license from five to eight years, and made it more difficult for citizens to challenge those license renewals.
One Candidate has spoken out against this senseless consolidation of the Free Press — that Candidate is John Edwards
8/6/2007
John Edwards:
“It’s time for all Democrats, including those running for president, to stand up and speak out against this [News Corp.-Dow Jones] merger and other forms of media consolidation.”
So far, Edwards is the only candidate to address this issue, and he deserves enormous credit for exhibiting such courage. The media is a potentially devastating enemy – just ask Howard Dean. However, Hillary Clinton has the greatest moral obligation to take a stand given what her husband saddled us with.
And Edwards has paid the Price for telling the Truth to the American People!
The price tag: being “Virtually Ignored” by the Media, and even being dropped from Candidate Polls, based on the arbitrary decisions of corporate Media Executives, and little else:
What is Edwards saying that they find so disturbing?
Edwards Comes Out Strongly Against Media Consolidation
Aug 2, 2007
Challenges Democratic presidential candidates to cut off contributions from News Corp Executives
Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Today, Senator John Edwards spoke out strongly against media consolidation which threatens the health of our democracy, by calling on Democrats to openly oppose and take the necessary steps to stop the merger between News Corp and the Dow Jones Company/The Wall Street Journal. Edwards called on Democrats to oppose the merger in light of the biased and unfair manner Fox News, and other media arms of News Corp, cover Democrats and the Democratic Party.
…
“News Corp’s purchase of the Dow Jones Co. and The Wall Street Journal should be the last straw when it comes to media consolidation. The basis of a strong democracy begins and ends with a strong, unbiased and fair media – all qualities which are pretty hard to subscribe to Fox News and News Corp. The reality is that Americans deserve more news outlets – not fewer. It’s time for all Democrats, including those running for president, to stand up and speak out against this merger and other forms of media consolidation.
Al Gore, another Progressive Statesman, has also spoken out just as urgently against this “wild west” atmosphere for evermore Media Consolidation:
Gore Lashes Out at Media Consolidation
by Jill Lawless
August 28, 2006
“Democracy is under attack,” Gore told an audience at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. “Democracy as a system for self-governance is facing more serious challenges now than it has faced for a long time.
“Democracy is a conversation, and the most important role of the media is to facilitate that conversation of democracy. Now the conversation is more controlled, it is more centralized.”
…
In the United States “the only thing that matters in American politics now is having enough money to put 30-second commercials on the air often enough to convince the voters to elect you or re-elect you,” he said. “The person who has the most money to run the most ads usually wins.”
Where do the other Candidates stand on the FCC, Media Consolidation, and the Fairness Doctrine?
It would be nice to know!
(The Fairness Doctrine, by the way, pre-Reagan era, used to require ALL qualified Candidates, get Equal Air time from the broadcasters, in exchange for their very lucrative broadcasting licenses.)
Edwards has the guts to take a Stand and speak out, like Al Gore did —
“One of the things we have a problem with in America is the conglomeration and consolidation of the Media.
We need to make sure that diverse voices are being heard, and we don’t have that kind of consolidation because that’s a big part of the problem.”
If the Trends set in motion by Ronald Reagan, and continued by Bill Clinton, are allowed to proceed unchecked as they have for 2 decades, this is the likely Future we will face
Instead of the “Big Six” Media Conglomerates —
we’ll end up with the “Titanic Two”
Fox and MSNBC!(and just wait til they merge)
If you think the Media stinks now —
just stay tuned …
and now a word from those Sponsors,
those VERY Special Interests down at www.MediaLobbyists.Inc …
underwritten and enabled by “Business as Usual” politicians, SPONSORS!
“It is my greatest hope that those who read this book will choose to become part of a new movement to rekindle the true spirit of America.” – Al Gore in The Assault on Reason
For those of us entrenched in the Draft Gore movement, we think we know exactly what that means.
And in California, we have been going full bore to qualify him for the Democratic Primary, whether he runs or NOT. The beauty of it is, that if he doesn’t want to be on the ballot, he can simply ask Secretary of State Debra Bowen to remove his name. And by law, she will have to.
And it will not have been a wasted effort. We will finally have our Shermannesque statement. Thus far, we have had nothing close to that.
We are 3 weeks away from the deadline, and are on the cusp of doing it, and things have gotten weird…
When I first stumbled upon the California Election Codes (back in March) that would allow this exercise in direct democracy, I was ecstatic!
It was a no brainer. We would put Gore on the California Democratic Ballot and that would propel him into the race. This is California! It will be easy! We only need 500 signatures (from registered Democrats) in each of the 53 Congressional Districts. We will have volunteers lining up around the block! It isn’t as if it is an open ended commitment! Only 500 signatures. That is 10 people per district, each collecting 50 signatures. Cake!
The only catch? Well… Given a primary date of February 5th, the window in which to collect the signatures (tied to the primary date) is October 8th to December 4th. So I can sit on my laurels for a few months and start organizing after the summer. Luckily for naive little me, Roy Gayhart had other ideas. He started organizing right away, and thank goodness for that because, well, we wouldn’t be here right now in the final stretch.
As I have stated, we have about 3 weeks left to complete this. We have made progress across the entire state, but our volunteers are starting to loose momentum. And that brings us ever closer to the Moment of (Inconvenient) Truth…
But let me step back for a minute. The other thing I had been proud of in this entire event is that this had been a purely volunteer and grassroots effort. We had an ActBlue page, but we really hadn’t tried to raise money for it. (Draft Gore is people power, baby!) Well… Until last week…
See, as we came into the home stretch it became more clear to me than it ever has before that there is a Red California out there. There are actually places where Democrats don’t wear their party affiliation on their sleeves (no news to those here, I am sure). So…
As anathema as this may be, we were left with resorting to hiring signature collectors! Does it make it better that we are sending them to the Red Areas? Or that it is for a good cause? It doesn’t matter. It is the reality. An inconvenient truth of its own.
The amazing thing is that the people have stepped up! And the (fabulous) truth of the matter is that in the past few days we have raisedover $30,000!
…and we had some donors that wanted to give so much we were left scratching our heads to even conceive of a legal way to accept that kind of money (OK, so I exaggerate a little)…
Now, I really don’t know how much that gets us. That probably gets us pretty close to the finish line, and if it doesn’t demoralize the volunteers, we slide across it like the needle coming out of a junkie’s vein! But it is all moot…
Hello everyone,
Today I had a communication from a member of Al Gore’s staff discouraging any efforts to put Al Gore’s name on any primary ballot. Accordingly, effective immediately, we should all cease our signature collection and related fund raising activities. I will communicate tomorrow with the California Secretary of State that they should stop tallying any Nomination Papers. Further, I have communicated this information to the coordinators of the campaigns in Massachusetts, New York and New Hampshire, as well as with representatives of draftgore.com and algore.org.
I want you all to know how much I appreciate the experience that I have had working with and getting to know all of you. I am confident that we were on the cusp of doing something that had never been done before. There is no doubt in my mind that we would have succeeded. I believe that our efforts have not been in vain. I also believe that this does not represent a “Sherman statement” by the Gore camp. We know that Al Gore knows how to say “No.” For reasons he explained in the Rolling Stone interview, he continues to leave the door open on a future decision.
For those of us who are passionate about Al Gore, we can shift our time and money to the Alliance for Climate Protection. In his recent interviews, one of Gore’s consistent messages is that he is committed to changing the consciousness regarding climate protection before he can entertain political aspirations. Those of us who are in this for the long-run can choose to work with him to remove the obstacles and shift the consciousness. Al Gore was quoted as saying in his recent Rolling Stone interview: “It is a mistake to think of the climate crisis as one in a list of issues that will define our future. It is the issue.”
He also was quoted in that interview as directing the following to those of us who have placed our hopes in him: “Well thank you for felling that way about me. Please trust me to make good decisions about where I can do the most good, and don’t automatically assume that running for president again is the right thing for me to do. If you feel that way, and I decide for sure not to be a candidate again – well, sorry. But if I do get back involved in the political system at some point in the future – well, keep that energy stored up and let’s have a go at it then.”
Thanks a million!
Roy Gayhart
What does that mean? I don’t know. It isn’t exactly a Sherman statement. But there it is. It is the Inconvenient Truth for us Draft Gorers. It takes a bit of the wind out of our sails…
Now, in the last few month, I have started to feel powerful. Like I we had a voice that we were delivering to the establishment. I don’t think that will go away. We were on the cusp of making history. We still have something to say…
The thing is, that is our ultimate Moment of (Inconvenient) Truth. We are a movement without a clear cause. For the moment… You tell me… What does it mean? How do we best use our momentum?
Re full disclosure, BlueBeaumontBoyz is a supporter or the Pougnet, Hutcheson, and Williams’ campaigns for City Council of Palm Springs.
(Don’t forget to either mail in your Vote By Mail by Tuesday, November 6, 2007, postmarked November 6, 2007, drop off your Vote By Mail ballot at your local precinct, or vote on election day, November 6 at your precinct!)
November 1, 2007 – Palm Springs Village Fest Voter Registration and Candidate Information Tabling at Palm Canyon & Arenas, Palm Springs, CA, Thursday nights from 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. (Adult beverages enjoyed thereafter at the local pubs).
Hot desert nights and progressive, Support-the-Troops/Stop-the-Insanity Democrats. Milling crowds of locals, visitors, and voters. I was able to discuss my letter-to-the-editor in today’s Desert Sun with the other progressive Democrats at Village Fest. The theme of my letter was the incompetence of Bush and Mary Bono R-45 and the expecancy that their promises re helping the victims of the Southern California wild fires are probably empty given nature of the promises made to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Years following Hurricane Katrina, and New Orleans, a great American city, and the Gulf Coast remain devastated.
The Democratic clubs were well represented as usual with Desert Stonewall Democrats staffing one table thanks to George Zander, President of the Club, Bob Silverman, Treasurer, Bill Gonzalez, and Randy. The Democrats of the Desert staffed another table thanks to Eleanor, and the Palm Springs Democrats staffed another table as well.
Hopefully, we will see visits from Greg Pettis, Steve Pougnet Mayor-elect of Palm Springs, John Williams, City Councilman-elect of Palm Springs, and Rick Hutcheson, City Councilman-elect of Palm Springs at the next Village Fest. Remember, Tuesday is Election Day. You must vote on Tuesday or have your Vote-by-Mail postmarked by then to make a difference in Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley!
More exciting details below the flip…
Craig Ewing, Candidate for the Palm Springs Water Board spent hours meeting and greeting the voters of the Palm Springs area. Crowds met him with unanticipated enthusiasm. Paul Clay, declared Candidate for the CA-45 Congressional District, raise awareness about his candidacy. I discussed with him the unsubstantiated rumor that Mary Bono may wait until the last minute to announce that she will not run for re-election and will anoint Bonnie Garcia as her replacement. The thought of Bonnie Garcia (“I wouldn’t throw Arnold out of bed”) as a Congresswoman in the District brought peals of derisive laughter from the surrounding voters.
April Hildner, of No on C, discussed the misrepresentation by the Yes on C people, the absence of committment to build a hotel by the developer, and the misinformation in the hands of the voters.
Tracy Turner, Vets for Peace, helped stoke the fires of intelligent discussion and activism. More on anti-occupation efforts as information becomes available.
Richard Oberhaus, campaign manager for Greg Pettis, Candidate for the 80th Assembly District, helped the Democratic Clubs and local candidates. Come to Palm Springs Pride 2008 this Sunday and see the local candidates in the Pride Parade!!
We had representation at the tables from the Sen. John Edwards campaign, i.e., yours truly, captain of the Palm Springs for Edwards One Corps Chapter. I distributed position papers from the John Edwards for President campaign, provided campaign buttons and bumper stickers, and solicited voters to register to vote. We discussed how poorly Obama did in the debate this week and how ill-conceived that nature of his attacks on Hillary were. I am sure that the image of an African-American attacking a White woman is not the image that the Obama campaign wants to linger in the minds of Middle America.
Wayne and the boyz staffed the Sen. Hillary Clinton table. Burt and Dave Huntzinger spearheaded the Sen. Barack Obama table. The Obama people were active in collecting information from potential volunteers. Bob Morris of the Draft Al Gore campaign circulated petitions to get Nobel Prize Winner Gore on the 2008 California Democratic Primary ballot. Morris expects an announcement from Gore during his Leno appearance.
We also registered 9 voters last night, including one change of party affiliation from the Dark Side. Moderate and progressive Republicans have long had enough of the incompetence, ineptitude, and callous disregard for the truth of the Bush Administration. Now they are voting with their feet by moving quickly to the Democratic Party!
Zander, Silverman, Morris, Oberhaus, Tracy Turner (Vets for Peace), Gonzalez, Randy and a worker from one of the San Diego Democratic Clubs attended the Unofficial Drinking Liberally (UODL) after-party at Bongo Johnny’s! Keep turning the Coachella Valley blue!
October 25, 2007 – Palm Springs Village Fest Voter Registration and Candidate Information Tabling at Palm Canyon & Arenas, Palm Springs, CA, Thursday nights from 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. (Adult beverages enjoyed thereafter at the local pubs).
Temperate desert nights and progressive, Support-the-Troops/End-the-War Democrats. Large crowds of locals, visitors, voters and refugees from the Southern California fire storms surrounded the tables. Many people from the mountain resorts, coastal cities, and San Diego County attended Village Fest. One family donated funds for John Edwards’ campaign materials and the young daughter nabbed an Edwards button to wear! German tourists from Laguna Beach sought refuge in Palm Springs from the smell of the smoke and the haze. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families deeply affected by the Santa Anas.
Here is the flier that I distributed at Village Fest:
Question: Who provides support and protection during National crises?
Answer: The National Guard
Question: Where is 50% of the California National Guard and its supplies?
Answer: Iraq
Question: Who is responsible?
Answer: George W. Bush, the most incompetent President in U.S. history.
Question: Who refuses to accept responsibility?
Answer: George W. Bush (I guess in some respects, Bush is the answer.)
The Democratic clubs were well represented as usual with Desert Stonewall Democrats staffing one table thanks to George Z, President and Bob S. The Democrats of the Desert staffed another table thanks to Eleanor, and the Palm Springs Democrats staffed another table as well.
Greg Pettis, Mayor Pro-tem of Cathedral City and Candidate for CA 80th Assembly District, spent two fun hours at the Democratic Club tables in order to raise awareness about his plans for the campaign and the 80th AD. His visit came close on the heels of his endorsement of former-Sen. John Edwards for President 2008. April Hildner, of No on C, discussed the massive funding by the proponents of C for advertising. We wonder where that money is from.
Hopefully, we will see visits from Pettis, Steve Pougnet Candidate for Mayor of Palm Springs, John Williams, Candidate for City Council of Palm Springs, and Rick Hutcheson, Candidate for City Council of Palm Springs.
More exciting details below the flip…
We had representation at the tables from the Sen. John Edwards campaign, i.e., yours truly, captain of the Palm Springs for Edwards One Corps Chapter and Tiffany from the Coachella Valley John Edwards for President One Corps Chapter. Tiffani and I distributed position papers from the John Edwards for President campaign, provided campaign buttons and bumper stickers, and solicited voters to register to vote.
John Edwards’ pollster, Harrison Hickman, has prepared a polling memo which proves, once again, that John Edwards is the strongest and most electable candidate. You can view this memo by clicking here: http://johnedwards.c….
Back to Village Fest. Joy L. and others staffed the Sen. Hillary Clinton table. Ed spearheaded the Sen. Barack Obama table with David H.’s assistance. The Obama people were active in collecting information from potential volunteers. Bob M., Amber Rose, and Amber Rose’s husband of the Draft Al Gore campaign circulated petitions to get Nobel Prize Winner Gore on the 2008 California Democratic Primary ballot.
We also registered 10 voters last night, including one change of party affiliation from the Dark Side. Later, George, Bob S., Bob M., Richard, and Randy attended the Unofficial Drinking Liberally (UODL) after-party at Bongo Johnny’s! Keep turning the Coachella Valley blue!
(I’d like to know as well… – promoted by David Dayen)
Democracy for America has been buzzing all day about the statement released by our Executive Director Arshad Hasan. Here one of the reasons why:
Our challenge to Al Gore: Jump In or Drop Out!
And another:
Despite the fact that Al Gore has not announced that he will run and wasn’t even included in the endorsement poll, DFA members have seized the power and written him in. With over 65,000 votes cast so far, the time has come for Vice President Gore to make a decision.
The clock is ticking. We are deep into the 11th hour. There are fewer than 90 days until the first votes are cast. And filing deadlines to be on the ballot start closing in just days.
You deserve to know. Is Al Gore in or out?
Voting is still open until November 5 at midnight, and there is plenty of time for any candidate to win. All your candidate needs is your vote right now:
Of course, this is not an ordinary endorsement poll. All voters are asked for their top three choices. And in the end, only an announced candidate can win the DFA endorsement. That means this will be the first poll in the nation that can accurately report both the remarkable support Al Gore has in the progressive grassroots AND which announced candidates earn that support if he never jumps in.
When DFA announces the results on November 6th, one year from Election Day, everyone will be watching.
Here’s why from Arshad’s statement:
We are the boots on the ground that knock on doors, make phone calls, and recruit new supporters whether advocating for the next president or electing Governor Howard Dean to Chair the Democratic National Committee. DFA members are working to take our country back and the DFA endorsement is worth more then just words to the candidate that wins.
DFA members are building a People Powered America. With 600,000 members nationwide, DFA members have contributed over 3 million dollars to federal campaigns and elected over 540 progressives to office since 2005. DFA has trained over 13,000 activists on the tools to win and is represented by organized volunteers in 98% of congressional districts.
After you vote, get out the vote for your candidate.
Think of this as Election Day. It is your job to take your candidate over the top. As an example, yesterday, a DFA member posted a bulletin to vote for Obama on his MySpace group and it went viral. When we sent Dennis Kucinich’s ‘Vote for Me’ message to DFA members, his votes jumped up by almost 3,000. That’s not stuffing the ballot, that’s working to win.
As of this writing, Al Gore has 21,499 votes and is solidly in first place. First place as a write-in! Is it any wonder why DFA would make this request?
Don’t keep us waiting, Mr. Gore. It is time for an answer.
(Or maybe it’s not cancelled. Kinda weird. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)
I just received a call from the Boxer campaign and the below email. The event featuring Al Gore is back on.
Good News: Tonight’s rally with Vice President Al Gore is back on! His trip to China to address government leaders there about global warming has been postponed, so fortunately he can now join us today in San Francisco.
I apologize for the last-minute notice and hope you can still join us. As a reminder, here are the details of tonight’s event:
Who: Senator Barbara Boxer, Vice President Al Gore, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and supporters like you at a rally and reception to benefit Barbara’s re-election campaign.
“Organizers of California Draft Gore, a grassroots campaign to put Al Gore’s name on the California presidential primary ballot, announced today that the campaign has volunteers located in or assigned to all of the state’s 53 congressional districts.
Originally convening on websites like algore.org, meetup.com, and draftgore.com, California Gore supporters quickly built the infrastructure necessary to take advantage of the California Election Code, which allows for a candidate’s name to be placed on the ballot if at least 500 registered Democrats’ signatures are obtained from each of the state’s congressional districts.
“In less than sixty days we have filled almost all of the campaign coordinator positions,” said Patrick McGovern, the Los Angeles regional campaign coordinator. “With estimates of over 1,000 volunteers statewide, we are a broad cross-section of Californians.”
One of the first of many Gore ’08 groups to move beyond petitions and pleas, the California campaign’s well-organized grassroots volunteers are optimistic about its chance of success. California Election Code allows signatures to be collected from October 8th through December 4th, and Berkeley campaign coordinator Gabi Baty believes that the campaign will meet that deadline because “we have people ready to hit the ground running.”
“There’s no doubt we’ll succeed. The only question is, how quickly. The sooner it’s inevitable that Al Gore will be on the ballot, the sooner he’ll take notice,” mused San Diego coordinator Ben Cooper. “We want Gore to realize that we’ve ignited the ‘new movement to rekindle the true spirit of America,’ he described in The Assault on Reason. We’re not trying to pressure him to run. We’re planning to inspire him.”
Many of the campaign’s volunteers view their efforts in this light. “We’re doing our part to help him make a decision,” said Beverly Flynn, a campaign coordinator from Turlock who had never been involved with politics until she joined California Draft Gore.
Baty agrees. “Our work to get him on the California ballot may encourage Gore. He may find himself at the front of a wave that’s pushing him forward.”
Campaign organizers are still recruiting volunteers for the signature-gathering campaign. Though California Draft Gore counts many seasoned politicos among its members, it also attracts political newcomers. Linda Morreale, is one such volunteer. Why Gore and why now? “It feels important,” she said. “Of all the choices, he’s the best.”
For more information on the campaign or to contribute to California Draft Gore’s campaign, visit www.california4gore.org.
About California Draft Gore:
California Draft Gore, a grassroots organization, is a Federal PAC. The organization and its website are not affiliated with or authorized by Al Gore, any candidate or candidate’s committee.”
This is something new in American Politics…
Don’t discount the efforts of real people doing what, for the longest time only spin machines, special interest money and professional campaign people did, pick their choice for President. We have a right to make this civic action, it’s our job as citizens. It is not the outcome that is so significant but the process being done. I think Mr. Gore will agree with that and is quite fascinated by our work. We exemplify what he talked about in the Assault On Reason. Just look at past popular movements in this country such as the Civil Rights Movement. I’m sure people discounted them in the beginning. Don’t be so quick to judge, it takes time to test out these things.
If you have a mind, use it, if you have a voice, speak it, if you have political will,
exercise it. I thank God for Al Gore. God bless America and God bless this beautiful earth.
For full disclose, I am involved in this effort, and as a matter of fact I first pointed out the relevant laws at the beginning of the year.
Just in case you didn’t think there were enough Democratic Presidential Candidates, those that are voting in the California Democratic Primary on February 5th seem likely to have another choice: Al Gore. The effort to put Gore on the ballot is definitely picking up steam, and they are going to be all over the state next week as the period in which they are allowed to collect signatures begins. I was unavailable over the summer, but the idea was picked up by Roy Gayhart who built an amazing grassroots effort that is going to be successful and has started to get some attention.
Last week they put out their own press release, and this week Roy was interviewed for a Raw Story article.
The task itself is pretty easy, if it is well organized: collecting 500 signatures of registered Democrats in each of the 53 congressional districts. From what I have seen of the organization they are easily going to have that. They have set up district coordinators in each and every congressional district, and they continue to attract volunteers.
I always say that the Democratic Party has an embarrasement of riches in Presidential Candidates for 2008, but for these volunteers, Gore is still their first choice. For them he represents something that is still not captured completely by any one of the other candidates.
But bottom line, what does it all mean? They hope that this will help spark a Gore run. But what if it doesn’t?
Well… the latest poll that I can find for California that includes Gore (June 2007) pegs his support at 19% (page 23; n=431, error=5%), behind Clinton (35%) and statistically tied with Obama (20%). Asked who their second choice would be, it was split between Clinton (41%), Obama (25%), and Edwards (12%).
Nationally, there are a slew of polls in September, giving Gore support ranging from 8% to 16%. And he isn’t running at this point, so come primary season, I expect that these numbers would hold, even if he doesn’t run.
And there are other states that are doing the same thing. There is a long list of dates and deadlines in this dkos diary. The first one with a deadline is Michigan, where Gore leads an August poll with 36%! Their deadline is October 23rd. They really don’t have an excuse, if they can’t get him on the ballot!
California has a 2 month window to collect the signatures they need by December 4th. Looking at what they have on the ground, I don’t see how they could be anything but successful. And that means that Gore will likely earn delegates to the Democratic National Convention from California, if nowhere else. All he needs is 15% of the vote in California.
An interesting prospect for what should already be an exciting convention. Of course, Gore retains the right to remove himself from the California ballot by writing to Debra Bowen, but he hasn’t done anything so Shermanesque yet.
And then the ultimate wild card could come from the Nobel Prize announcement next Friday. Yup. Next week should be interesting.
