Getting Al Gore to Run for President

For those of us who are hoping that Al Gore will run for president, something really good happened last month. We can now give to his campaign even though it doesn't yet exist. From ActBlue's statement:

Beginning today, supporters of prospective Democratic presidential candidates can go to ActBlue.com to give and raise money for presidential draft funds to encourage their desired candidates to run. The funds are the first of their kind to allow supporters to raise money for a prospective presidential campaign before the would-be candidate has formally thrown a hat in the ring.

On Wednesday, ActBlue, a political committee that sent over $16 million to Democratic candidates in 2005-06, continued its record of innovation in political fundraising by launching "draft funds" for prospective presidential candidates including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Howard Dean. The launch follows on the heels of the Federal Election Commission's decision last Thursday permitting fundraising for prospective candidates.

Money collected in the draft funds will be held until the prospective candidate forms a presidential campaign committee, at which point the funds will be transferred to the campaign. Should the candidate not enter the race by the time of the Democratic National Convention, funds will be sent to the DNC. ActBlue staffers indicated that they would honor all "serious requests" to set up draft funds for prospective candidates.

I had heard this was pending, but apparently it's been "live" for a month. I only learned about from following a link from a post on Eschaton. My guess is there are others who didn't realize this is now active who are anxious to take advantage of the opportunity to get Gore to run.

It is extrememly easy to set up a page on ActBlue, which I have done and added it to my blogroll on this page. I would recommend it as a great tool for reaching out to your circle of friends and family, particularly those who favor Gore but aren't part of the netroots.