The national Draft Gore effort isn’t the only one hoping to persuade Al Gore to run for president. Former President Jimmy Carter said he supports Gore as well.
“I wish he would (run). If he ran, I would publicly endorse him,” Carter said in a telephone interview Thursday afternoon. “And he knows it. I’ve already told him that personally, and I’ve announced it several times.”
Carter’s comments come as talk abounds that the former vice president and one-time presidential candidate is expected to win the Nobel Peace Prize today for his work fighting global warming. Carter himself won the prize in 2002.
Carter’s remarks also illustrate his reluctance to pick among the current Democratic field at a time when the Democratic race remains close despite record fundraising and months of early, and heated, campaigning.
Denver political analyst Eric Sondermann said Carter’s remarks were a further indication of continued fracture “in the Democratic Party between the Hillary Clinton crowd and the anybody-but-Clinton crowd.”
On Wednesday, the Draft Gore effort ran a $65,000 full-page ad in The New York Times. The group has been trying to enlist Gore for years. Other groups also are campaigning for a Gore run.
But Gore’s representatives have said repeatedly that he has no plans for a bid.
Carter said if Gore doesn’t run, he will wait for the party to makes its nomination before he endorses.
“I have confidence in (Gore), and I know him well,” Carter said. “He’s the best-qualified person in America to be president.”
Carter added that Gore had become “the world leader” in the fight to reduce global warming, stating that environmental issues are critical.
However, Carter said Gore didn’t seem willing to run. “I haven’t seen any indication so far that he’s flexible on the subject, and that’s been a disappointment to me,” Carter said.
Carter has announced his support of Gore in the past. In February he told political commentator George Stephanopoulos he wished Gore would run.
He said Thursday that when he last asked Gore about a bid during a call in late spring, Gore told him: “Jimmy, I asked you not to talk about that.”
“We have a lot of mutual friends who have talked to him since then, encouraging him to run,” Carter said. “But he’s not given them any encouragement.”
Carter currently is conducting interviews regarding his newest book, “Beyond the White House,” which describes the strides he has made with the Carter Center and its efforts to promote peace and fight disease around the world.
Barry Osborne of The Denver Post research library contributed to this story.
Chuck Plunkett: 303-954-1333 or cplunkett@denverpost.com
