Would Gore be able to win Tennessee in 2008?

[leyton]

I'm still not sure why he lost his home state in 2000, although I am told it has to do with his position on gun control and I suspect that the fact that George Bush is a personable Southerner has something to do with it as well. So would Gore win his home state the second time around?

I have heard that he has been spending time there, rebuilding his connections, etc. Will this help him?

I often have heard the comparison made to Richard Nixon, who of course lost the race to succeed Eisenhower but made a comeback eight years later. In the interim Nixon lost a gubernatorial race in his home state, California; perhaps this is akin to Gore's losing the state's electoral votes.

[Cheswick2.0]

1. voter disenfranicisement

it was as bad in TN as in florida. Notice that the republicans had their talking point "he couldn't even win his own state" ready and on every pundits lips the minute TN went for Bush.

[IndyOp]

7. I second Cheswick - Voter disenfranchisement.

Election fraud was rampant in 2000, and reached amazing new heights in 2004.

If you haven't taken time to learn about election fraud - here is a tidbit that might get you going: In Volusia County, Florida in 2000 -- a Democratic Party member noticed that -16,022 votes suddenly appeared on Al Gore's tally on election night. The change in Gore & Bush totals led John Ellis of Fox News (Bush's cousin) to call the election for Bush and to paint Gore as the loser who should give up for the good of the country. A recent 'hacking demonstration' in Florida by Harry Hursti demonstrated to Ion Sancho (a Board of Elections head who is a hero to election reform folks like me) -- exactly how the memory cards could be modified to alter tallies.

The next election WILL include fraud -- will we be willing to see it when it happens? Will be be willing to FIGHT?

:kick:

[peacebuzzard]

2. I know exactly why he lost TN

two words: Evangelical Rightwingers. I know....I am surrounded by them. I live there. It is terrifying.

[Kokonoe]

3. It was the right wing radio.

It's saturated the airwaves here. Unfortunately most of the people I work with believe what ever they here if it's on the radio or tv. Even the news reporters are (payed) biased against him.

[rabid_nerd]

4. Gore has lived in TN since 2000

Just read articles...

http://www.algore.org

You can ignore our rah-rah stuff ;)

[sweetm2475]

5. Guns. They were told Gore would take away their guns.

[benEzra]

6. Well, he promised to do so...

based on some VERY bad advice he received from gun-404 advisors and the gun prohibitionist lobby.

Not all guns of course. Just a quarter to a third of them...civilian handguns and rifles that hold more than 10 rounds, civilian rifles with protruding handgrips, adjustable-length stocks, etc...

I live in NC now, and lived in Florida in 2000, both of which are a lot like TN with regard to gun issues. Believe me, telling people you will fight to ban people's handguns and modern-looking rifles is one of the quickest ways to lose any of those states. 80% of gun owners aren't hunters, so a talk-up-hunting-while-demonizing-nonhunting-guns strategy is a guaranteed loser in states where half or more of Dems and independents own guns.

FWIW, Edwards lost his own home state as well in 2004, and the ticket's vocal anti-gun stance was a big part of that. Our pro-gun, NRA-endorsed Democratic governor won the state 55%/45% in 2004, even as the SAME VOTERS rejected the anti-gun presidential ticket 45%/55%. There's a lesson in that...

[Admiral Loinpresser]

8. I went to Nashville last summer

for the 1st Annual Gore Family Appreciation Dinner, sponsored by the Nashville Democrats. Some of us took "Gore 2008" buttons to pass out. I was a little sheepish at first, because Al was there and I didn't want to make it appear that he was encouraging us to do that (my wife and I got taken up front to meet him and Tipper-- I was blown away). Anyway, after that, we started to give them out when people at my table noticed them. People all over the room were coming to our table to get them. We ran out of buttons and people were still asking. It was a wonderful night.

[DavidDvorkin]

9. Who cares?

If he can win the presidency, it doesn't matter whether or not Tennessee is part of the combination.

The Republicans were the ones who insisted that, by losing Tennessee, he had morally lost the election. They like to make up rules out of thin air like that.

[Uncle Joe]

10. I believe the over riding reason that cost Al Gore Tennessee,

is precisely because he empowered us when he championed the internet. This event sent shock waves through the MSM, they wanted to remain the sole gate keepers to truth and the internet threatened their monopoly on the minds and thoughts of the American People. Thus they began their two year war against Gore as is well documented at the Daily Howler website. They slandered and demeaned him, they obfuscated or ignored his positions, they brain washed a sizable percent of the American People including Tennesseans in to believing he was a serial exaggerator at best or an out right liar at worst.

Coming out of an administration with a fresh scandal and impeachment, integrity and honesty were paramount with Middle America. The MSM knew this and basically adopted Bush's talking points as the man that would bring integrity and honor back to the White House while at the same time trashing Al. I am not speaking just of FAUX News or radical right wing radio, but of the vast majority of the entire MSM. Tennesseans in general are moderate to conservative and in 2000 still trusted their "fourth estate watchdogs" to level with them and tell them the truth.

Today as a result of this, the cheer leading of the run up to a war with Iraq based on lies, Gannon/Guckert and other pseudo journalists, their own complicity in exposing our own CIA agent and her company and the various other scandals involving the MSM, their own credibility is in shambles. I believe should Al run again, he will win Tennessee just as he always had before 2000.

*Tennessee trivia: Al Gore is the first and only person to win all 95 counties in the state during a Senatorial run.

[Dunvegan]

11. I think Al could take most of the South this time.

Running mate will make a big difference, however.

I'd like to see him pair with a progressive Southerner, like Clark.

But I believe Gore could take a good portion of the South in a re-run.

[johnaries]

12. YES!

I live in Mid-TN, and it's true when they say that TN is the "perfect crucible" for politicians.

It is said that East TN is "poor and Republican". West TN is "poor and Democrat." Middle TN is "Wealthy and Centrist".

Well, that has been mostly true in the past. But Bill Frist has shamed us! TN is very much on the borderline.

TN could very well be a Blue State in the next election. But it will take some work....