For Gore, an ‘08 White House bid in the cards?

Former Vice President Al Gore sent Christmas cards to Democratic activists throughout the country last month, a sign that he is keeping his options open about running for president again in 2008, Democratic strategists said yesterday.

New Hampshire Democrats who worked for Mr. Gore’s election in 2000 said yesterday that the mass mailing to a large political list of party activists and financial backers estimated to number in the thousands signaled to them that he is keeping in touch with his supporters in case he decides to make another run for the White House.

“I think it’s been customary to receive Christmas cards from politicians before they run for office, but rarely do you receive a Christmas card after the election is done,” said Jim Demers, a former Gore strategist in New Hampshire who is now backing Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri for the nomination.

“This was a mass-produced Christmas card, with a picture of his family on the front, that a lot of people here received,” Mr. Demers said. “I think that any people who receive these cards would conclude that he is keeping his options open in the event that George Bush wins the election.”

Mr. Gore, who came within a few hundred votes of winning the presidency, announced on Dec. 15, 2002, that he would not challenge President Bush in 2004. A year later he endorsed Howard Dean for the nomination, but he has never ruled out another presidential campaign.

Gore advisers, who did not want to be quoted on the record, said yesterday that he has always sent Christmas cards to a large number of supporters across the country and that this year was no different.

One former Gore aide said it would be “premature” to reach any political conclusions about his intentions for the future based on the large end-of-the-year mailings that he has continued to make three years after the 2000 election.

“He sent these cards all around the country. A lot of people received his Christmas cards. I got one. I don’t know what list he used, but Al Gore is sitting on a gold mine of party activist lists,” said Donna Brazile who managed Mr. Gore’s last campaign.

Miss Brazile, who has not endorsed anyone in the presidential primary race, said she was not surprised that Mr. Gore was still sending Christmas cards to so many supporters long after the 2000 election, but she declined to characterize the former vice president’s intentions.

But some Democratic activists who got the cards remained bitter about Mr. Gore’s decision to endorse Mr. Dean before the party primaries have been held.

“If he thinks sending me a holiday card even begins to resume the conversations he and I had, he’s sadly mistaken,” said New Hampshire state Rep. Raymond Buckley who is supporting Mr. Gore’s former running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

Mr. Buckley said that the former vice president treated Mr. Lieberman shabbily when he endorsed Mr. Dean without first informing the senator of his decision.

Mr. Dean’s other chief rivals also were angered by Mr. Gore’s endorsement because they had all actively campaigned for him in 2000, he said.

If he is thinking about making a comeback four years from now, “he’s going to have to create a base. But he’s burned so many bridges, I don’t feel a heck of a lot of people can get past that,” said Mr. Buckley who served as Mr. Gore’s state campaign director.

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