Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Gore to the Rescue?

Telegraph:

Plans for Al Gore to take the Democratic presidential nomination as the saviour of a bitterly divided party are being actively discussed by senior figures and aides to the former vice-president.

The bloody civil war between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has left many Democrats convinced that neither can deliver a knockout blow to the other and that both have been so damaged that they risk losing November’s election to the Republican nominee, John McCain.

Former Gore aides now believe he could emerge as a compromise candidate acceptable to both camps at the party’s convention in Denver during the last week of August. ...

If neither Mr Obama nor Mrs Clinton has the 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination, and if both appear unable to beat Mr McCain, under one scenario a group of about 100 party elders - the “super-delegates” - could sit out the first ballot in Denver, preventing either candidate winning outright, and then offer Mr Gore the nomination for the good of the party.

Why would either Obama’s or Clinton’s supporters accept such a maneuver? Gore hasn’t won a single vote, so allowing 100 or so party elites to try handing him the nomination would be completely lacking in both small d and large D democratic legitimacy. Do you really think that Obama and Clinton supporters would all simply step aside and allow Gore to waltz into the nomination without seriously bloodying him up? To the contrary, with any luck, such an attempt would result in a dedlocked convention that takes countless acrimonious ballots before a badly weakened winner finally emerges on, say, Saturday of convention week.