The Field, which has been teasing Gore endorsement news all week, says there will be a Gore endorsement but explains why it won't come before Super Duper Tuesday. The explanation makes sense, though I wish for sentimental reasons that he'd have thrown caution to the wind.
There would be two drawbacks to rolling Gore out now. One, is that Obama is up against a rival camp that loves the play the “politics of pile on” (its words) card, also known as the victim card. It worked in New Hampshire and at this point the Obama camp doesn’t want to give Clinton an opening to portray its candidate as ganged up on by the boys. The Tsunami Tuesday cycle is Kennedy’s, with sizeable ensemble performances by McCaskill, Sebelius and Napolitano (as in this Wall Street Journal Op-Ed today) and it’s working. But once the dust settles from Tuesday, more shots in the arm will be needed, especially prior to the Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4. That would be better timing for a Gore endorsement.
The second reason is Tennessee. It’s one of the Tsunami Tuesday states where Clinton enjoys a commanding lead (up by 14.5 percent in the Pollster.com average, and by 13 in the RealClearPolitics average). For Gore to come out now, only to be perceived (again) as not being able to carry his own state, would erase the benefit of his support after Tsunami Tuesday.
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