There's a Buzz in the California Air About Al Gore

In a measured and careful cadence, when she introduced Al Gore to the crowd, after Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne, enthusiastic backers of Boxer performed a set, and with all 300 or so in the room listening to each and every word (and knowing what was on everyone's mind), she said: "In thinking about what to say about Al Gore, I decided to say [pause] that if Al Gore was President [applause and grins all around] we know, we know, that he won the Presidency. If Al Gore was elected President and then re-elected, we wouldn't be at War with Iraq; we would have gotten Bin Laden; and we'd be the leader on global warming."

With that short introduction, Al Gore took the stage. He was hugged by Bonnie Raitt and embraced by Jackson Browne with the audience giving him a standing ovation that he tried to dampen down.

Shortly into his speech, the audience was quiet enough that you could hear a pin drop, as Gore delivered an earnest speech about global warming. You could hear an audible gasp as he described the melting of the polar icecap over the last two years with these words: "The amount that melted back was the equivalent of everything East of the Mississippi River. This year, much more than that, another 23% and an al time record melting, and the scientists said it fell off a cliff."

At the end of his speech, Gore was greeted by chants to run for President.

As I walked out of the event, I was tapped on the shoulder by someone I hadn't seen in about 15 years, Mark Stein, my predecessor in the mid 1980's as Chair of the Alameda Democratic Party. He was there because he happened to be walking by the hotel and stopped at a table set up to get petition signatures to place Al Gore on the California ballot. He was insistent that Gore had an obligation to the country to run for President. He commented on how much better a President Gore would be than he would have been eight years earlier, and how much personal growth he had gone through.

I stopped by the petition table to place Al Gore on the California ballot and spoke with Andrew Rusting who had been doing a brisk business. I was very impressed with his organization as he had clipboards labeled for many of the counties throughout California. At least 500 valid signatures of registered Democrats need to be gathered for each of California's 53 Congressional Districts and they need to be turned in to the Registrar of Voters in each county.

Rusting excitedly told me that there are a lot of tourists from all around California and that he had signatures from most of the counties in the state. He was registering voters as well and said that two Green Party members had just reregistered as Democrats so they could sign the petition.

Do I know if Gore will run for President this time around? No. Do I know if he can win? I'd have to give that a lot of thought. Robert Kennedy got in late in 1968.

I do sense that there is a lot of excitement about the possibility. I take no sides on this one, but if you are interested in seeing this happen, take a look at our previous article on the movement to place Gore on the ballot from last week or go to the California. Draft Gore site