An Inconvenient Nobel Winner

It was bound to happen, and it was pulled off with the grace of Joe Cocker dancing The Nutcracker Suite. Al Gore begged off a campaign appearance for a Democrat to fly overseas to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. Even Stevie Wonder could have seen this coming, what with the politicization of the Nobel Committee in the past few years. But, Gore might just have his sights on one more prize: the Presidency of the United States.

Yes, I know Gore's denied it, but remember he's the guy who took the initiative in the creation of the Internet (which was already in existence by the time he was in Congress), so we have to at least consider the possibility that he's bluffing. Combine that with the groundswell of support for Gore among Democrats not happy with the current crop of Democrat candidates, as well as the notion that Gore was robbed in 2000, and the fire may reignite. And if you've ever seen Al Gore fired up...you can't tell the difference from when he's calm.

Regardless, Gore has time to consider his next move, and his entrance into the race would hurt just about every Democrat candidate. The lower tier candidates would get swallowed up like Gore swallows up a Twinkie. And considering all but Hillary, Barack Obama, and John Edwards are lower tier candidates, he could break through into the upper echelon relatively quickly, picking up supporters from the lower tier candidates with ease. Edwards is teetering on the verge of being irrelevant, so Gore's entry pushes him out of the top three. With Gore being the new anti-Hillary and Obama not sounding all that Presidential these days, Gore could overtake Obama and take a number of Obama supporters with him.

That leaves Hillary. The history between the Clintons and the Gores makes the Hatfields and McCoys look positively chummy. Bill Clinton used Gore to deflect criticism from his lack of a military record and did nothing to help him in 2000, partially because Gore didn't want his help, and partially because Bill had campaign volunteers with Hillary's Senate run to hit on. Hillary and Gore jockeyed for position during the Clinton years for Bill's ear, and Hillary usually won. (Fortunately, they had conceded control of other parts of Clinton's body early on, as Monica can attest.)

The Hillary-Gore matchup would be a dream for Democrats because either way, they can't lose. With either candidate, they get someone who will spend a lot of money on pet causes and weaken America. What's not to like with either one if you're a modern Democrat? And if Gore doesn't win the nomination or doesn't want to take on Hillary directly, he could always run as a third party candidate and undercut her that way.

In either case, Al Gore becomes an inconvenient alternative to Hillary.