The Political Chase

No Dimpled Chads in Oslow

Al Gore has won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts “to spread awareness of man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures needed to counteract it.”

Source

Yawn, Mondale to Endorse Clinton

1984 Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Walter Mondale plans to endorse Hillary Clinton for president according to The Hill.

The Hill also postulates, “Mondale’s endorsement could prove especially valuable in Iowa,” because he “won Iowa overwhelmingly in the ‘84 primary.” Mondale may have won Iowa by a landslide 23+ years ago, but I don’t think it means squat today. Moreover, if the clock was turned back 20 years and Hillary or whoever received Mondale’s endorsement, I doubt it would carry much weight even then.

Mondale probably wishes he had gotten a George Bush thumpin’ when he ran for president in 1984. Ronald Reagan won the entire Electoral College with the exception of Minnesota, Mondale’s home state, and Washington, D.C. He also carried only 40 percent of the popular vote.

Furthermore, when the late Sen. Paul Wellstone was killed in an airplane crash 11 days before the November 2002 election, the Wellstone family convinced Mondale to put his name on the ballot, but he lost, albeit narrowly. Although Mondale had only a week or so to make his campaign bid, it is not as if he was an unknown quantity.

Excluding Dick Cheney, how many former Vice President’s and former presidential nominees would not be able to win a senatorial race in their home state after a tour of duty as the Veep and their party’s nomination for the presidency?  Very few, regardless of how many days they had to campaign.

Mondale’s endorsement will yield Hillary a handful of swing votes, maybe, and a dab of positive, free publicity (a whole weekend’s worth). It’s hard to imagine getting any more mileage than that.