Drafting Al Gore in Escondido, California

Written by: Dean Nut in Sandy Eigo on Oct 21, 2007 10:55 AM EDT

There are several doughty bands of us gathering signatures of registered Democrats around San Diego County, in order to put Al Gore Jr's name on the Democratic primary ballot next February. There are 5 Congressional districts in, or partly in, the county, and we need 500 good signatures per district to get him on the ballot.

So we volunteers are going to all the Democratic clubs and organizations, setting up tables in area shopping malls and street fairs, and hitting up our friends for signatures. Yesterday, after going to my local platform committee hearing for the state party platform, I joined one of the Draft Gore leaders at his table in Westfield's mall on the south side of Escondido, California.

I must point out that this area, close to the junction of the 49th, 50th, and 52nd Congressional Districts, is majority Republican by registration. The local Congresscritters are all Republicans; in fact they are our local "Terrible Triumvirate"-- Darryl Issa, Brian Bilbray, and Duncan Hunter. (Bilbray carpetbagged his way into the shoes of previous TT member Randy Cunningham, who is now lounging in jail for strongarming bribes out of local defense contractors. Bilbray used to be the Congresscritter in the now-53rd CD, before being ousted by  the present Congresswoman there, Susan Davis, in 2000.)

So you would expect this site to be a hard sell all around. But really, it wasn't.

For one, my partner, the local leader, had very politely gone to the mall concierge some days ago and asked permission to set up a table for the purpose of gathering signatures to draft Gore onto the ballot. They gave him some papers to fill out, gave him instructions not to pester, harass, or otherwise make life uncomfortable for the shoppers, and gave him a date. When he arrived at the mall today, he found that they had set up a very attractive table, with a pretty red Westfield tablecloth, and four chairs, right next to the central escalator through which 90% of the mall traffic travels. Primo!

By the time I joined him about 1:00 pm, he had already gathered a full page of 10 signatures for the 50th, and a handful from the other two area districts. He told me that he had had one Republican come up and say he wanted to sign, who stated he wished he had voted for Al Gore in 2000. Sure, we got a few grimaces and disapproving comments from passers-by. Most people just passed the table and hardly looked at us. But, as we sat there quietly, and chatted with each other about politics, every so often another person or two would simply walk up to the table and ask to sign. I also caught a couple of other folks who, as they walked past, said "I already signed online". I had to explain to them that the online petition was simply to ask Gore to run; these papers were to actually put his name on the ballot. I "rescued" 2 or 3 signatures that way.

At about 4:10 we folded up shop for the day. As my partner put the last of the materials in his bag, a lady rolled up in her wheelchair and asked to sign. He dug out the appropriate paper for her Congressional district  and she signed it... so we got one more signature "under the wire". The day finished with over 30 signatures from the 50th, and a half dozen or so from the other two CDs.

Now, based on my previous experiences volunteering for campaigns and other actions, I think these are some pretty fantastic results. In the supposedly "hard republican" regions of San Diego county, there seems to be a lot of yearning for a Gore presidency.

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Location: Escondido, CA