It aint over 'til it's over

the end
Posted November 20th, 2007 by gorewon2000 in Al Gore Politics
Al Gore's office has contacted the staff at AlGore.org and instructed them to cease with petition efforts to get Gore onto the state primary ballots. Attached below is the message that was sent out to organizers in response to this communication.

So where does this leave us?

Unfortunately, it looks like this is closing the door. Without Gore's name being on the ballot in the primary, the chance of him becoming the Democratic nominee for president in 2008 is just about zero. Some in the draft movement are still talking about the possibility of having a deadlocked convention, with voters being split between the candidates and none receiving a majority of delegates and so winning the nomination outright. In that event, it's possible that delegates could choose Gore as a unity candidate, and apparently Gore has kept open the possibility of running as the nominee after being so chosen.

That option, however, does not present any obvious volunteer actions to take on behalf of a Gore candidacy. The primary will either deadlock or it won't.

Others are talking about supporting a write-in campaign. I will be writing him in on mine.

For this group, though, this is pretty much the end.

We can take heart that the Suburban group gathered over 600 signatures to place Al Gore's name on the Illinois ballot, and over 400 to have my name listed as a Gore delegate. We helped swell the ranks of people in attendance at Gore's book signing at Border's, and helped get 200 lapel stickers onto attendees of that event. We collected more than 200 signatures on petitions asking Gore to run.

Keep that fighting spirit. We still have work to do as activists, even without Gore as our nominee for president. Aragorn has refused to take his rightful throne in the White City, but the battle goes on. This setback may make our efforts seem hopeless, but sometimes it's the hopeless causes that most need us to fight for them.

After all, there never was much hope... just a fool's hope.

Stand strong.

Benjamin Iglar-Mobley

* * *

Ending the petition drives to get Gore on the ballot
Date : Mon, Nov 12, 2007 11:04 PM

Dear Organizers:

We have received a communication from a member of Al Gore's staff discouraging our efforts to put Al Gore's name on any primary ballots. This includes California, New York, Massachusetts, and the write-in effort in New Hampshire, as well as any other states that are working to get him on the ballot. Accordingly, effective immediately, we are recommending that all groups cease their signature collection and related fund-raising activities.

Some of you may wonder about the discrepancy between this message and the one sent out last week. We have attempted to bring you information as we receive it, and only information that is credible, and last week's information came from credible sources, but not sources from within Gore's office. Unfortunately, today's communication comes from Gore's staff and trumps the information we received last week.

We're all reeling and in a bit of a state of shock, and our main objective right now is to get people to stop working for something we've been discouraged from pursuing. Beyond that, we recognize that for many this will feel like getting hit by a Mack truck. It's impossible to convey the deep disappointment we all feel, but we've been to hell and back again with this, and just as we hung together in the past, we'll grieve together and get support from the community we built. Regardless of how we attempt to deal with this blow, we should at least now be able to turn our attention back to family, friends, and jobs that have been neglected over these long months of hard work. We built a community of support and supporters, and I believe our lives were enriched for having known each other and worked together for this cause we believe in so strongly. Many of us have formed permanent bonds with people in this movement that transcend the political ideology that brought us together in the first place. These are ties that will last a lifetime.

We'll be putting out more communications in the days ahead, but for now we felt it was urgent to get this information out to people so they wouldn't put any more time or money into the effort. I hope we can turn our grief and disappointment into something more positive and productive in the future.

There are no words to express our sorrow at having to deliver this news, but I'm afraid it is real, and the request needs to be heeded.

With deepest regrets,

--Karen

Karen Wunderman
Chief of Staff, Volunteer Division
AlGore.org