Gore: No Plans for 2008 Presidential Run

According to an AP report, Al Gore appeared on ABC's "This Week," which was broadcast on Sunday, claiming that he has no plans to run for President in 2008:

"I haven't made a Sherman statement, but that's not an effort to hold the door open. It's more the internal shifting of gears," said Gore, referring to Civil War-era general William Tecumseh Sherman. "I can't imagine any circumstances in which I would become a candidate again. I've found other ways to serve. I'm enjoying them."

Gore referred to Sherman's famous words upon retiring from the Army in 1884, which put to rest talk of a presidential run: "If nominated I will not run; if elected I will not serve."

Gore, in an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC's "This Week," stopped short of issuing such an equivocal statement. But he said his time is best spent educating people on heat-trapping gases raising the Earth's surface temperature. He's promoting "An Inconvenient Truth," a film that chronicles his intricate slide shows on global warming.

The key here is that Gore has not issued a "Sherman statement." In other words, he's leaving it open to change his mind later. Perhaps I'm wrong. I've been known to be wrong before on several occasions but I firmly believe that he will make a Presidential run in 2008. What is so special about Gore saying he has no plans for '08? Many people perceived to make a run in 2008, in both parties, have not confirmed or denied the possibility. Why should Gore be any different? Gore has been in politics for a long time. He knows that to mention a possible 2008 Presidential run at this point, while his film,"An Inconvenient Truth," is currently in the box office, would be in poor taste and he would stand little to gain from making such a proclamation right now. As far as his denial is concerned, I'm not buying it. I guess we'll see in a couple of years.

Tags: Al Gore, Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, politics, News, News and Politics, Global Warming, 2008, Democrats, Bush