Al Gore, the former presidential candidate who lost the 2000 election by the narrowest of margins to George Bush, last night said he had decided against running for the presidency in 2004.
Mr Gore, 54, the former vice-president in the Clinton administration, made his announcement official on the CBS show 60 Minutes, ending months of speculation over a possible second tilt at the White House.
”I personally have the energy and drive and ambition to make another campaign, but I don’t think that it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
The decision surprised Washington analysts. Gore had been the early favourite for the Democratic nomination and has in recent months re-emerged as a political figure, openly condemning the Bush administration’s policy on Iraq, commenting on healthcare and the economy and doing the rounds of the television talkshows.
He also campaigned for a number of candidates around the country during the mid-term congressional elections.
But over the weekend, he was the unlikely guest host of the satirical sketch show Saturday Night Live, appearing on stage in a hot tub drinking champagne with an actor playing a potential running mate, suggesting he had put thoughts of the presidency out of his mind.
Gore said in the CBS interview that he still wants to ”contribute to ending the current administration”. He added: ”I think the current policies have to be changed. I think that my best way of contributing to that result may not be as a candidate this time round.”
His decision opens the field for other candidates to make a bid for the White House against President Bush in two years’ time.
Possible contenders for the Democratic nomination include senators John Kerry, of Massachusetts, and John Edwards, of North Carolina, as well as Joe Lieberman, Gore’s running mate in 2000. The outgoing House of Repre sentatives leader Richard Gephardt, the Vermont governor Howard Dean and Tom Daschle, the Senate Democratic leader, were also named as potential candidates.
Al Sharpton, the controversial civil rights figure, has also previously said that he might run for the nomination.
Dean, who was in New Hampshire, called the announcement: ”Sort of a bittersweet day”.
”I think that Al Gore must have faced a very difficult decision and he exhibited some real courage in making the decision he did,” Dean added.
Gore won 540 000 more votes than Bush in the 2000 elections and for a few agonising weeks the result was left hanging in the balance. But he took fewer electoral college votes.
Gore lost the presidency after an extensive recount in Florida saw him defeated by just over 500 votes.
In a rematch he would have faced an even tougher Bush whose popularity has been bolstered by the war on terrorism. Current polls would give Bush a 20-point lead over Gore.
Although he was the clear frontrunner for the nomination in recent polls, some Democrats privately expressed relief that the party would now be able to rally behind a new, more charismatic leader. There was a certain amount of anger two years ago that he had managed to lose the election at a time when the economy was booming.
It is common for vice-presidents to win the nomination to run for president, but it is rare for them to then be elected by the public. One notable exception was the former President Bush.
For the past year, Gore has been working as vice-chairman of Metropolitan West Financial, a Los Angeles-based financial services company. He is helping the firm find investments overseas.
He has been juggling that job with his duties as a college professor, guest speaker and author, travelling between New York, Los Angeles, Washington, his teaching jobs in Tennessee and his new home in the suburbs of Nashville. He spent the past month promoting a book he wrote with his wife, Tipper.
Gore disappeared from public view for almost a year after the 2000 election, saying that Bush deserved a chance to begin his presidency without continued criticism from his election opponent. Just as Gore was beginning to re-emerge politically, the September 11 attacks dramatically altered the political climate.
As vice-president, Gore became one of Bill Clinton’s closest confidantes, while developing his own issues, such as downsizing the federal government and fighting global warming.
He also played an active role in foreign policy.
Gore’s squeaky clean image was tarnished by a fund-raising scandal. He was investigated and cleared of charges that he illegally raised money from his White House office. – Guardian Unlimited