What would Al Gore do to the Democratic Nomination process?
Volunteer Voters states that:
The question for me is: can he find hole in this race? Hillary Clinton is pretty well ensconced and Barack Obama has proved more effective than many might have thought. In the Republican Party, there is a large cross section of grassroots conservative looking for a hero.
The Left has their hero in Barack Obama and the establishment has Clinton and Edwards, where does Al Gore fit in? Are there enough of the establishment discontented with all three of the frontrunners and is there hole in the grassroots that Gore can fill?
I would say no. Al Gore’s entry would definitely shake up this race but his nomination would not be a slam dunk. Does Gore really want to take on the Clinton Machine on his right and battle a charismatic phenomenon on his left?
I have to agree. I, personally, do not believe that there is a “hole” for Al in this race. Here’s why… polls have shown that Democrats are, by and large, happy with their slate of candidates, while Republicans are unhappy - for the most part.
By getting in this race so late, Al is at a huge disadvantage - money-wise. Now, if he had jumped in 3-4 months ago, I would say that Al would be the man to beat. But, at this point, backers are committed, a lot of cash has already been distributed. And, not only does Al have to convince people to vote for him, but he also has to convince them WHY they need to leave the candidates that they are already happy with. This will prove to be a huge challenge for him.
At this point, if Al gets into this race, it hurts Hillary. I feel that the left will, most certainly, gravitate toward Barack. Hillary has become the candidate for moderates, along with Edwards. And, without other choices, conservative Democrats will probably go with a mixture of Hillary and Edwards. And, then, of course, the 1% of psycho Democrats who want to bring back the Mondale years will go with Biden. Al cuts into the Hillary-Edwards demographic. Hillary, Al, and Edwards would split their votes, paving the way for Obama. It would be an interesting scenario.