Gore to Endorse Obama?

How important is the endorsement of former Vice president Al Gore? Well, four years ago, Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean turned out looking like a kiss of death, but this is a different Al Gore. After the Oscar, the Grammy, the Nobel Prize and a long romance between Gore and a robust on-line Draft Gore movement, his endorsement would mean plenty to Barack Obama.

That endorsement may be forthcoming. Steve Clemons reported today on Huffington Post, "A well-placed spouse of a Clinton campaign insider just told me that a rumor is spreading like wild fire that Al Gore is going to endorse Barack Obama." Clemons also said that a source inside Obama's campaign told him that they have been working very hard to "encourage" Gore.

His endorsement of Hillary Clinton was never in play, considering the reported animosity between the two.
Clemons believes that Gore runs the risk of putting his role as the leader of the climate consciousness movement in jeopardy by endorsing Obama if Clinton becomes the next president.

Politcal Machine's Tommy Christopher spoke to Clinton National Finance Committee co-chair John F.X. Graham. Graham said, "I haven't heard that at all, but after the Kennedy endorsement, I don't think this means much at all. Obama only won in Republican states, he can't carry California, New York, Massachusetts." Graham also alluded to Gore's 2004 endorsement of Dean. "Gore's endorsement, after he endorsed Howard Dean, doesn't impress me much."

Christopher also caught up with one of John Edwards's senior advisers and former Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi. Trippi said that Gore leaned toward endorsing Edwards initially, but that he liked both the Edwards and the Obama campaign's plans for greenhouse gas reductions.

Trippi also said, "As a strategist, I can tell you that it makes a lot of sense that he would do it now. If you do it too early, it's like you're propping someone up, but after [Obama's] success on Super Tuesday, he's earned his seat at the table, and an endorsement could put him over the top."