Gore Rising

It's tough to know what will happen in 2008, what with the expanding rift in the GOP and the typically fractious Democratic party. As of now, most who are making predictions are calling a McCain/Clinton contest. But McCain is still considered an enemy by many in the Republican base, and while Hillary has a massive amount of money I haven't seen anything approaching broad support from the party.

There are other contenders on both sides, but unfortunately for the GOP, their most prominent would-be candidates are hard-right, fundamentalist-approved candidates. Upcomer George Allen has turned out to have pretty extensive problems with family violence and a love affair with the Confederacy. On the Democratic side, newly-energized John Kerry clearly wants to make a run, along with possible candidates Wesley Clark, John Edwards, the probably too-polarizing Russ Feingold.

But Al Gore is starting to garner a huge amount of attention on the blogs, and I've made no secret of my long-time standing as a fan of his. Like Kerry, he seems to have learned the hard lessons of the campaign, and both appear more confident, casual, outspoken and passionate than ever. Unlike Kerry, however, the blogs are already showing a very, very positive and enthusiastic response to Gore.

And there are already plenty of prognostications about a Gore ticket. Gore/Feingold? Gore/Clark? Notably, I haven't seen anyone propose a Gore/Clinton ticket.