Izzy or Izzeny, Part Three

This article says that "[f]riends of Al Gore have secretly started assembling a campaign team in preparation for the former American vice-president to make a fresh bid for the White House." This was apparently not done at Gore's request, but he hasn't asked them to stop either.

This part of the piece perked my little pointy ears right up:

Gore-watchers believe that a new book he is publishing next month on the state of US politics will keep his name in the public eye. Many of his supporters helped to run the unsuccessful presidential campaign of John Kerry in 2004. But since Sen Kerry abandoned his presidential aspirations this year, many of his leading advisers have yet to align themselves with any of the other candidates.

They were expected to join the campaign of Sen Edwards, who was Sen Kerry's running mate last time. The former aide, who has himself signed up with Sen Edwards, said: "The question is: where have all the Kerry people gone? The answer for most of them is nowhere. Now ask yourself why."

That's actually interesting. But check out this quote from James Carville:

James Carville, President Clinton's former strategy chief, suggested last week that Mr Gore, who has piled on the pounds, could shed weight over the summer to make himself more media-friendly for a White House run.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he lost 15lb or so," said Mr Carville. "And I think if people thought he could get us out of the mess we're in with Iraq, they wouldn't care how fat he is."

And remember what Bill Clinton said last week:

"[Y]ou have got the prospect that vice president Gore might run."

Carville's an advisor to Hillary Clinton's campaign. And of course, we know who Bill is. Why are they talking about Gore running? See, I don't believe that the Clinton people do or say bloody anything that isn't somehow intended to advance their ball. (Of course, if you read Carville's quote, there's a compliment embedded in a nice little pillow of nastiness -- you know, the part where he calls Gore fat.)

But the question to ask is, what's their purpose in yammering about a potential Gore run? Bill had to know that even that one throwaway comment would cause a ripple through the political press and blogs. Stealing Gore's thunder in the event he's planning to run? Or is he trying, by fanning the flames of hope, to keep those of us who would vote for Gore in a heartbeat from committing firmly to Obama or Edwards? My thought process is this: that Gore die-hards like me aren't likely to fall in Hillary's camp, and if we keep telling the pollsters that we want Al, that softens the support for Obama and Edwards. The longer she can string that out, the better. Gore is currently running third after Obama. Give that support to O or E, and things start looking worse for HRC.

Is that insane? What do you think is going on?