Al Gore has already won the popular vote

Posted by Guest Blogger at 12:09 PM on May 22, 2007.

This post originally appeared on The Smirking Chimp

No matter what you think of the electoral mess in the 2000 election, Al Gore won the popular vote. It's easy to forget that, but that should be drilled in everyone's head - Al Gore has already won a presidential election based on popularity.

Now, let me ask you an obvious question -- how many people do you think who voted for Al Gore in 2000 now regret that vote and think, "Man, I really should have voted for George Bush instead?" My guess is out of the 51 million people who voted for Gore, not more than 11 people feel that way. And they are on some serious medication.

Everyone who voted for Gore in 2000 would love to get a chance to do it again. And I suspect a ton of people who voted for Bush would also vote for Gore if they were allowed to make up for their mistake.

Now, granted Gore won't be running against Bush this time if he entered the race and the right-wing - aided and abetted by the mainstream media - has taken a lot of shots at Gore in the meanwhile. But I suspect Gore would hold nearly everyone who voted for him in 2000 against any of the Republican contenders (who are tripping over themselves to agree with Bush on Iraq, torture and most of the other hideously unpopular positions Bush now holds). And he would undoubtedly add a wide swath of people who voted for Bush initially and are now disgusted with him.

There is no such thing as a sure thing in politics. Though, the Democrats always seem obsessed with finding one. If that is really their aim, they are much better off with a candidate who has already won a popular vote for president - and has only added supporters since.

That's not why I'm supporting Gore. I'm supporting him because he is dead right. Exactly right. I often get frustrated with Democrats and re-write what they should have said to the press or to the Republicans instead of the mealy-mouthed stuff they wound up saying. The one time I thought there was an aggressive campaign that I wouldn't have changed a thing on was Jim Webb. And he took down George Allen, who almost certainly would have been the presidential candidate for the Republicans in 2008 if Webb hadn't kicked his ass in Virginia.

Now, there is another. I wouldn't change a word of what I have read in Gore's new book. It is tougher and wiser than anything that's ever come out of my mouth (that isn't surprising to anyone of course, but it's disheartening how many times that isn't true for other Democratic politicians who should know a hell of a lot more than I do).

The man is brilliant and he is right. Every sentence I read from him makes me think - its got to be Gore!

Webb knocked off one of the Republican contenders with his tough-as-nails campaign in Virginia. Now, we should let Gore knock off their actual candidate with his new tough and smart approach. We need a leader we can be proud of again. You know who the right guy is for the job. Now, we just got get him there.

Tagged as: election08, gore, election00

Cenk Uygur is co-host of The Young Turks, the first liberal radio show to air nationwide.