Post by GSC Admin on Feb 6, 2004 22:11:32 GMT -5
tennessean.com/opinion/columnists/chavez/archives/04/02/46534390.shtml?Element_ID=46534390
Dean debacle should just about finish Gore for good
If you're wondering why Al Gore has been hiding in his own supposed home state days before the Democratic primary, his endorsed candidate, Howard Dean, provided the answer Tuesday night on CNN's Larry King Live.
Dean says his candidacy started nose-diving after Gore endorsed him.
Holy Revenge of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Batman! It seems that Gore's endorsement tarnished ol' Howard's image as an outsider who would change things in Washington.
So Gore in Tennessee has been kept out of sight like Saddam Hussein in a 12-foot-deep rat hole, and Dean isn't even expected to campaign here anymore.
Next Tuesday, Gore will lose his home state for the second time in four years — this time exclusively due to the sentiments of his fellow Democrats. And that incredible event may well write his political obituary as far as ever being a viable candidate again.
Rutgers University political scientist Ross K. Baker put it this way in the Los Angeles Times:
''The more prominent the endorser, the worse it looks. Take Gore: Already ridiculed for losing his home state of Tennessee in the 2000 election, Gore, by endorsing Dean, cemented a reputation for political ineptitude.''
Right now, he is the butt of jokes. Jay Leno quipped this week, as reported by The Associated Press:
''Yesterday, Howard Dean got under 10% of the vote in South Carolina, Missouri, and Oklahoma. That Al Gore endorsement is really kicking in!''
Former GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole got off the best line on Larry King:
''The best advice for Kerry and Edwards is if Al Gore calls, don't pick up.''
The only thing that could revive talk about Gore's political career would be if Tipper tears off one of his earth tone suit lapels to reveal a nipple ring a la Janet Jackson.
With Gore, there are so many questions and so few answers. The latest, unanswered question is why did he feel the need to take such a chance so early in 2004 Democratic presidential politics.
''Gore took a calculated risk in jumping out front in endorsing Dean, primarily from the polls, in an effort to keep his name on the big board,'' replied Kerry Haynie, an associate professor of political science at Duke University, on the Ascribe Newswire.
''It seals his fate in the party,'' Haynie said. ''He's not a major player anymore. It was odd behavior for someone who wanted to be a standard-bearer. Gore would have been well-advised to have waited. Bill Clinton has waited. He knows his endorsement matters.''
There are other questions:
Why did Gore feel the need to run so far from Bill Clinton and his administration's successes in the 2000 race?
And why did he just seek recounts in a handful of southern Florida counties when voters, particularly African-Americans ones, were apparently disenfranchised in the northern part of the state? Gore's decision not to seek a statewide recount probably lost him the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Yes, there are a lot of questions. But with Tuesday's vote in Tennessee and Dean's withdrawal if he loses in Wisconsin, Democrats and voters will no longer care about answers to the political mystery that is Al Gore.
Dean debacle should just about finish Gore for good
If you're wondering why Al Gore has been hiding in his own supposed home state days before the Democratic primary, his endorsed candidate, Howard Dean, provided the answer Tuesday night on CNN's Larry King Live.
Dean says his candidacy started nose-diving after Gore endorsed him.
Holy Revenge of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Batman! It seems that Gore's endorsement tarnished ol' Howard's image as an outsider who would change things in Washington.
So Gore in Tennessee has been kept out of sight like Saddam Hussein in a 12-foot-deep rat hole, and Dean isn't even expected to campaign here anymore.
Next Tuesday, Gore will lose his home state for the second time in four years — this time exclusively due to the sentiments of his fellow Democrats. And that incredible event may well write his political obituary as far as ever being a viable candidate again.
Rutgers University political scientist Ross K. Baker put it this way in the Los Angeles Times:
''The more prominent the endorser, the worse it looks. Take Gore: Already ridiculed for losing his home state of Tennessee in the 2000 election, Gore, by endorsing Dean, cemented a reputation for political ineptitude.''
Right now, he is the butt of jokes. Jay Leno quipped this week, as reported by The Associated Press:
''Yesterday, Howard Dean got under 10% of the vote in South Carolina, Missouri, and Oklahoma. That Al Gore endorsement is really kicking in!''
Former GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole got off the best line on Larry King:
''The best advice for Kerry and Edwards is if Al Gore calls, don't pick up.''
The only thing that could revive talk about Gore's political career would be if Tipper tears off one of his earth tone suit lapels to reveal a nipple ring a la Janet Jackson.
With Gore, there are so many questions and so few answers. The latest, unanswered question is why did he feel the need to take such a chance so early in 2004 Democratic presidential politics.
''Gore took a calculated risk in jumping out front in endorsing Dean, primarily from the polls, in an effort to keep his name on the big board,'' replied Kerry Haynie, an associate professor of political science at Duke University, on the Ascribe Newswire.
''It seals his fate in the party,'' Haynie said. ''He's not a major player anymore. It was odd behavior for someone who wanted to be a standard-bearer. Gore would have been well-advised to have waited. Bill Clinton has waited. He knows his endorsement matters.''
There are other questions:
Why did Gore feel the need to run so far from Bill Clinton and his administration's successes in the 2000 race?
And why did he just seek recounts in a handful of southern Florida counties when voters, particularly African-Americans ones, were apparently disenfranchised in the northern part of the state? Gore's decision not to seek a statewide recount probably lost him the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Yes, there are a lot of questions. But with Tuesday's vote in Tennessee and Dean's withdrawal if he loses in Wisconsin, Democrats and voters will no longer care about answers to the political mystery that is Al Gore.