Editorial
Advice for Al
The vice president, after serving eight years under a popular president during a time of unprecedented prosperity, then sought to become president in his own right. He ran a vigorous campaign, but was beaten by an agonizingly small margin by a callow opponent with an exceedingly thin résumé and few real accomplishments—but with considerable personal charm.
Looking to revive his political career, the former vice president returned to his home state, from which he had long been absent, and ran for governor. Of course, as everybody now knows, Richard Nixon lost that race. Yet from that conflagration he rose again like—depending on your perspective—the phoenix, the Energizer Bunny, or Freddie Krueger.
Tennessee has an open governor’s race in two years. Why not a Gore candidacy?
Following the final acts in which Albert Gore Jr. was forced to throw in the towel in the face of George W. Bush’s successful judicial filibuster, Gore said he did not know what he would do next other than return to Tennessee and mend some fences, literally and figuratively.
Despite losing Tennessee in the presidential election, Gore quite conceivably could win the gubernatorial race. Although his failure in part represents the effects of some profound statewide demographic and political changes, probably the biggest factors in the defeat were just the neglect of his statewide organization over the last 10 years and the unwillingness of his national campaign leadership to pay any attention—until too late—to the Tennessee operatives who warned them about the problem in the state.
Gore would have to do some work to win, but it would probably be healthy work. During all his years in Tennessee, most political observers suspected that in his heart Gore was much more liberal than Gore the candidate let on. During the last presidential campaign, there was reason to suspect that he was truly much more conservative than he ran. Coming home might give him the opportunity to resolve the question of who he really is and what he believes.
Being governor is also one of the genuinely good positions in government. It offers the opportunity to seek practical solutions to real problems that make a difference in people’s lives. There are chances to do truly innovative things and to be able to recognize the effects of what you have done. The experience of Gov. Don Sundquist notwithstanding, it is also a position much freer from the kind of persistent everyday bitterness that has pervaded the politics of a nation remarkably undivided by anything except division itself.
Of course, it might seem like an awful comedown after all those years in Washington wrestling with the great issues of war and peace. The Tennessee National Guard does not have nuclear weapons, and the state does not intervene in foreign crises. But it is good, honest work—big enough to solve problems for many people yet still close enough to them to stay in touch with their concerns.
