Gore will not run for office in 2004

Former US Vice President Al Gore, who came agonisingly close to winning the presidency two years ago, has said he will not run for the White House in 2004.

The Democrat won the popular vote by half a million votes in 2000 but conceded the presidency to Republican George W Bush after a tumultuous 36-day recount in Florida and a 5-4 Supreme Court vote against him. Mr Gore’s concession came on December 13, 2000, just over two years ago.

“I’ve decided that I will not be a candidate for president in 2004,” Mr Gore told the CBS 60 Minutes programme in an interview broadcast yesterday evening.

“I personally have the energy and drive and ambition to make another campaign, but I don’t think that it ’s the right thing for me to do.”

Mr Gore said he wants to “contribute to ending the current administration”.

“I think the current policies have to be changed,” he said. “I think that my best way of contributing to that result may not be as a candidate this time around.”

He likely would have been the party’s early front-runner and his sudden withdrawal clears the field for other Democrats hoping to unseat a popular president.

Mr Bush, whose approval rates are in the 60s, has almost a 20-point lead over Mr Gore in polls that pose a 2000 rematch. The rivals were running even before the terrorist attacks of September 11, last year.

Party activists were critical of Mr Gore for losing despite a booming economy and eight years of a Democratic administration. Mr Gore even lost his home state of Tennessee. A victory there would have given him the White House.

Among Democrats, Vermont Governor Howard Dean is running and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has formed an exploratory committee. Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, Mr Gore’s running mate in 2000, has said he is interested in a bid, but would not run if the former Vice President did.

Also considering the race are Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt and North Carolina Senator John Edwards.

Aides to Mr Lieberman said they had no immediate comment. Those close to Mr Gephardt said he was “very likely to run” no matter what Mr Gore had decided.

Mr Dean, who was in New Hampshire, called the announcement “sort of a bittersweet day”.

“I think that Al Gore must have faced a very difficult decision and he exhibited some real courage in making the decision he did,” Mr Dean said. “There is a certain amount of sadness for me because he worked hard in the 2000 election and was poorly served by the process.”

Some aides said the 54-year-old Mr Gore would feel differently about the pending decision from day to day. He had said he planned to deliberate through the holidays and announce a decision after Christmas. Aides did not immediately say why he changed his timetable.

A year ago, Gore accepted the job of vice chairman of Metropolitan West Financial, a Los Angeles-based financial services holding company. The former vice president is helping the firm find investments overseas as well as private-equity investments in biotechnology and information technology.

He has been juggling that job with his duties as college professor, guest speaker and author, travelling between New York, Los Angeles, Washington, his teaching jobs in Tennessee and his new home in the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee.