Well, judging by this Reuters article, it seems to be the same "no plans" statement he has made all year. Of course, it's getting awfully late for him to jump in at any rate, so I suspect he's not running.
He could just make a Sherman statement and be done with it, though, instead of stringing everyone along.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

it is not the same direct statement as the paraphrase:

In an interview with Norwegian broadcaster NRK, he said he would not run for the White House again.

[...]

Asked how the prize would affect his political future, he replied: "I don't have plans to be a candidate again so I don't really see it in that context at all."

making this more of a mess is that te interview was likely conducted in norwegian, through translators, so the nuance of "not running" v. "no plans to run" are likely to have been lost in translation.

his answer is basically the same line we've been getting for months now.

His world view is apparently not that dramatic that would require challenge of the political power order. Power point presentations would do just fine, we must assume. Otherwise... won't we let the boat sink faster then?

This story was broke on Murdoch's SKY News. If Gore is going to announce his candidacy or non-candidacy, he's going to do so in the United States. Secondly, he's not going to do it on a Murdoch owned company.

This is the same answer, Gore has been giving for over a year now. This is Murdoch turning nothing into a 'seachange' for his candidate -- Sen. Clinton.

Al Gore running for president is as likely as the Colorado Rockies making the world series.  For ETers, the world series is the championship of all the best baseball teams in the world who live in america.  And the unlikely Colorado Rockies did make it this year, proving that picking horses in a presidential duck pond is a simple as estimating ABCP value.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

Is this a diary? Seems more like a comment for the open thread.

So you are angry that he's decided not to run - don't you think that's perhaps a bit arrogant? It's his life (and the lives of his family) - he might just feel he's had enough of US politics and the malicious attacks of the Right and much of the US media. Could one really blame him ?

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

i think he wants to stay alive...

i think it would be great if he ran too, but i'm not angry at him.

what would really please me would be if he ran a totally revolutionary campaign, eschewing all the stupid (and highly unecological) folderol and just did a coast to coast train thing, maybe, and lots of internet campaigning, video questions from voters, etc.

the best would be if he didn't get sidetracked by any of the truly stupid 'campaign issues' like which sets of sexual organs can marry etc, and merely repeated...'apollo project' to every question, till eventually even the dimmest of the dim got it that this wasn't the usual whores' catwalk he was doing, but a radical new approach to the whole business, enough with exhausting, enervating, babykissing, fleshpressing mall gigs, just SERIOUS debates and excellent blogging coverage of how he was going to revolutionise american industry.

to go up against the petrochemicalpharmaMIC legions seems quixotic, unless he had a fantastic cabinet and/or (preferably 'and') massive public support....and maybe oil at $120!

he may be right to avoid the whole 3-ring boondoggle, it is such a mammoth energy-suck the way it is now.

very often the real power is not centre-stage...

it's not like the dem contenders are lacking in wit and will anyway, whereas the repubs are really down to giuliani, and he has a few serious problems winning bush's base.

he's need another 9-11 at least to stand a chance....touchwood...

i'm praying the only rubble he's left standing on in future is that of the repukelican party...

It's a fine line between homage, parody, and consumer opportunism. Jess Walter

I suspect he believes that, with the near certainty of a democrat winning the presidency, he will have pretty close to unfettered access.

If HRC or BA win, he may be in for a rude disappointment as to how green friendly they will be.

But i don't blame him in the least. It is not one man's responsibility to save the world, it is all of us. Maybe it's his way of saying "I've done my bit, now you step up and do something".

keep to the Fen Causeway

The past few weeks of feeding frenzy regarding a Gore campaign for President have all the earmarks of a modern marketing campaign rolling out.  People act like Gore has been sipping coffee and giving powerpoint presentations for the past 7 years.  In truth he's been establishing himself as a successful, intelligent businessman.

Gore has money. Gore has connections.  Gore has CONFIDENCE that comes from experience.  And the one thing he's made clear is that he was disgusted by the process of running for President in the US (as are all of us).  Solution?  Run it differently.  

If Gore really is getting into this thing you're witnessing a watershed change in campaign tactics that will be closely copied should it prove as successful at marketing its product (a product with inherent merit, mind you).

I am somewhat angry, in fact - and I suspect I won't be the only one.

As we all should. Although, we should keep in mind that if elected, he wouldn't attempt to live up to half his rhetoric, which is also probably why he won't run.