Gusciora seeks Gore delegates for 2008

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora wants former Vice President Al Gore to be the next president. So he's launching a statewide grassroots movement to muster the necessary New Jersey delegates to put Gore's name in at the Democratic National Convention next summer.

Forget about a draft Al Gore movement now. It's too late, Gusciora contends. Gore supporters, says the veteran progressive legislator, need to organize and take their cause straight out of the February, 2008, Democratic primary to the convention in Denver.

"I would like to try to find people who are interested," said Gusciora. "The American psyche has a way of correcting its mistakes. Gore's ideas were really criticized on global warming when he ran for president in 2000."

They won’t be now, particularly after what Gusciora and 74% of the voters in New Jersey, according to Quinnipiac University, see as the train wreck presidency of George W. Bush.

Gusciora said as it stands there are too many problems with the Democratic candidates who are now running.

Senator Hillary Clinton?

“I just can’t get around her war vote and her lack of remorse over it,” said the Assemblyman. “I would support her if she were the nominee.”

But reluctantly.

And the same goes for Sen. Barack Obama, whom Gusciora sees as inexperienced, and Sen. John Edwards, whom the Assemblyman can’t see, frankly.

Gusciora said he couldn’t claim to have any connection to the Gore machinery and what other grassroots groups are doing beyond the State of New Jersey. He’s planning to work the phones in the coming weeks to find support here.

The state Division of Elections won't put someone's name in a slogan without his or her consent. But there are ways around it. Ronald Reagan didn't enter the New Jersey primary against Ford in 1976, so his supporters filed delegates under the slogan “Former California Governor.”

Also in 1976, an uncommitted slate won the most delegate seats in the Democratic primary. The slate, headed by Sen. Harrison Williams and AFL-CIO Pres. Charles Marciante, was for Hubert Humphrey or Jerry Brown. Gov. Brendan Byrne headed Jimmy Carter’s slate.