The Zong

Why, oh why does the Inventor of the Internet tease me with these ridiculous non-denial denials?

Gore has said he hasn’t ruled out making another run for president, but he doesn’t “expect” to launch a campaign. He made the comments during a visit to Australia in September, where he was promoting his film.

It’s campaign season again. Or rather, still. 2008 looms large and is densely loaded with candidates who leave me worried, limp or simply pissed off. Anyone who’s anyone knows I’ve been saying Al Gore is the one candidate that can bring a truly progressive resume back into the White House since before it was cool.

At any rate, The Zong is officially on Gore Watch, if for no other reason than I just don’t want to believe that he won’t run against all these other jokers. For this edition of Gore Watch, we turn to an Op-Ed piece the Boston Globe published Tuesday which, rather vaguely, hints at some inside information from Al’s pals suggesting he’s putting out the “feelers.”

Publicly, Gore hasn’t ruled out running, but neither has he evinced much interest.

But when one friend asked him recently about another campaign, Gore didn’t dismiss the question out of hand. “We’ll see how things go,” he replied.

Another Democratic source says that in recent weeks, the former vice president’s camp has quietly put out feelers to presidential politicos, asking whether they are committed for 2008.

Nice use of the word “evinced,” by the way. Classy.

I don’t really have any inclination to believe that any of this is actually true. Gore’s “camp” could be Tipper just trying to piss off Hillary Clinton. I know that I’m clutching at straws here, Googling Al Gore’s name like he’s my frigging ex-girlfriend, but I’m not the only one. They love him in Boise.

The former vice president and 2000 Democratic presidential candidate is scheduled to speak January 22nd at Boise State University as the keynote speaker for a conference on global warming.

The university started handing out 700 free tickets this morning at 10 a.m. and within 10 minutes, K-T-V-B television reports the tickets were all gone.

I plan on continuing to point out these completely irrelevant snippets of crap as evidence that he might run until I get some actual news from his “camp.” The clock’s ticking, Al. I’ll be watching you.

- M.G.