Potential President with a Peace Prize?

Christopher Hitchens, the world-renowned and delightfully fluent -- albeit insufferably gruff -- journalist, contemplates an interesting possibility in the current issue of Slate: "If [Al] Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize, will he run for President?" USA Today even wrote that Gore "hasn't ruled out another White House run."

We seem to have forgotten that the candidate list is not closed. We invest so much effort into researching and debating about the announced candidates that we completely ignore the potential candidates. I think that Al Gore, having won the popular vote before, stands a very good chance at winning the Democratic nomination even when entering the race so late. My reason for putting my own trust in Gore delves deep into political and environmental ideology, but I believe the average American will not vote for him (or anybody else, for that matter) based on his policies. The average American will vote on his image and their memories of his public life. This is actually a positive thing for Gore. Where many see Hillary as too animated, Obama as too young, and Edwards as too pretty to be the next President, they will most certainly go for Gore who is neither animated, nor young, nor pretty.

The more people see of our current Vice President, the more, I think, they yearn for our former, more reasonable and level-headed Vice President. Gore, despite his association with the Clinton administration and the stigma attached to that, is being remembered fondly by the American public as his stance on issues such as Iraq and global warming are being more widely-accepted, revealing Gore's amazing foresight. Also, Gore didn't shoot anyone in the face.

While I know what candidate out of the current Democratic frontrunners I currently like, I know that I will have to seriously rethink my vote if Al Gore enters the race.

- Reed Braden (These opinions are solely mine.)