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Gore Endorses Dean

Turn out the lights, the party's over... The most important endorsement yet falls to Dean. Al Gore has decided to back Dean's bid.

This will essentially end Lieberman's campaign and draw a great deal of mainstream Democratic support to Dean's campaign. The only endorsements more important than Gore's are those of the Clinton's. Hillary yesterday declined to attack Dean on any issues and claimed that she will back whomever becomes the Candidate, inching her closely to a concilliation with the fact that she will not be President until 2012, at least. Although, I must say that the seemingly impossible looks increasingly likely - a Dean/Clinton ticket in 2004. If the reproachment between the Dean movement and the DLC continues, I would not be surprised by Hillary coming on the ticket in exchange for Bill's support.

Bill himself remains enigmatic. He surely does not want to lose de facto control of the party, but he is becoming more and more hemmed in by events and his relegation to a secondary role is likely inevitable. There have been suggestions that Bill could take a key role in the Dean White House. It would be a balancing act, but Dean has already promised to send Bill to the Middle East to negotiate a peace. Such a role implies an appointment as Secretary of State. Building a core team of advisors and likely cabinet officers will probably not happen until a Vice-Presidential candidate is chosen, but I'm guessing the Bill will be an early member of the team. Bill as SecState, Hillary as VP, and Gore as SecInt would load Dean's Administration with key DLC members who enjoy a great deal of support, while keeping the truly key policy positions open for Dean's own people.

Once Dean is in a position to encapsulate the Clinton Administration and the Gore Adminstration that might have been, and the pary is aligned behind him, they will all have to start working to undo the damage to Dean's image they did in trying fruitlessly to stop him.

posted by Michael Bryan @ 12/08/2003 09:36:00 PM