At least 6 more flirting with US presidential run

Washington, June 22: Late US congressman Mo Udall once said presidential ambition was a disease to be cured only by embalming fluid, an affliction that may apply to six more people thinking of entering the crowded White House race.

A wide-open campaign has the potential to get even wider in the months ahead if more candidates join the 10 Republicans and eight Democrats vying for America's attention in the November 2008 election.

New York's billionaire mayor, Michael Bloomberg, left the door open to a campaign by defecting from the Republicans this week to become an independent.

Former Vice President Al Gore, the Democrat who lost the disputed 2000 election to President George W Bush, is coyly flirting with a run, allowing him to bring more public attention to his campaign against global warming.

Former Tennessee Republican Senator Fred Thompson is weeks away from a probable announcement that he will run and has generated considerable media attention as an alternative to those already in the Republican field.

Less certain is former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican who will announce later this year whether to seek the White House and who lately has railed against an overhaul of US immigration he says will leave borders porous to terrorists.

There is also Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel and Ralph Nader, the liberal gadfly whose Green Party run may have helped deprive Gore of a victory in 2000.

What do they all have in common? A serious case of what Udall, an Arizona Democrat who lost his own presidential run in 1976, called ''presidential-itis.'' How do they catch the presidential bug? Combine powerful egos with a lot of supportive whispering in their ears from staff, family and friends.

STRONG EGO

''Anybody who has been in public life has to have a strong ego,'' said Linda Fowler, a political science professor at Dartmouth University. ''I think the main thing we often forget is how oftentimes the people who are in these positions have their egos reinforced by the people around them.'' Talking about the possibility of running also generates attention for high-profile people who know they cannot win but have agendas to push and need audiences to hear them.

After disclosing his renewed designs on the White House to The Politico in an interview yesterday, Nader was swiftly booked on MSNBC's ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'' program.

Gore's supporters take him at his word he does not plan to be a candidate and say leaving the door open allows him to get more publicity about his global warming fight after winning an Academy Award for his movie, ''An Inconvenient Truth.'' ''He's been involved in politics long enough to never say never,'' said political consultant Chris Lehane, a former Gore spokesman. ''Even the slightest, slimmest chance he will run for president only enhances his platform.'' Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the fact that neither a sitting president nor vice president is running has led to one of the most wide-open US campaign seasons in the past 100 years.

Other than perhaps Thompson, no late entries were likely to go far, he said. ''It won't be Newt Gingrich, it won't be Michael Bloomberg, it won't be Donald Trump, who has 1 billion dollar and time to spare.'' The dance of the undecideds will end soon enough. Come autumn, it will be too late to get their names on state primary ballots.

REUTERS

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