This isn't exactly a novel observation, but I'm pretty impressed by Gore's recent actions. The amount of liberal goodwill he gets bathed in every time he delivers a stemwinder under MoveOn's auspices is really quite impressive, particularly for a candidate so damned by faint progressive praise last time he ran. It's nothing less than a reinvention. Now, I don't know if Gore's thinking of running in 2008 -- I've heard some rumors for and some against -- but he'd start in a really interesting position: an established, mainstream, well-known candidate with a deep base among liberals and a reputation for saying what others only think.
His work with MoveOn, his endorsement of Dean, and his sustained criticism of Bush would offer him some powerful fundraising opportunities out of the gate, and having captured most of the liberals willing to throw in with an establishment candidate, he'd be able to compete with Kerry, Clinton and Edwards for the rest of the primary electorate while freezing them out of the activist base. Anyway, this may all be incidental and Gore may not be planning a run, but if he is, his image renovation and electoral positioning has been even more impressive than Hillary's. If he went on a listening tour, found himself some new and refreshing ideas to undergird his candidacy (focusing on health care and energy independence, maybe?), and positioned himself as the "real Gore", he'd make for an interesting candidate.
