Al Gore Takes a Pass on Charlotte

He came ever so close to capturing the presidency in 2000, and even spoke at the 2008 convention, but this time around, Al Gore was nowhere to be seen as Democrats gathered in Charlotte, N.C., this week.

Instead, the former vice president was doling out commentary for his network, Current TV, at a New York studio, and had particular praise for his former ticketmate, Bill Clinton, with whom he had not always enjoyed the warmest ties.

“I have heard President Bill Clinton give a lot of great speeches,” he said of his former boss’s speech on Wednesday, “and I honestly don’t know of a better one.”

On Thursday, with a Twitter stream to the side of the screen, he said he was “so happy” that Senator John Kerry, another former failed Democratic nominee, mentioned his most-prized issue, climate change.

The panel assembled on his network for Thursday’s speeches addressed him as “Mr. Vice President” and seemed to dance around the issue of his convention absence. During a break in the action, Cenk Uygur, a Current TV host, posed to each member of the panel a hypothetical: would you rather be a senator from a given state, or take a certain cabinet position? Mr. Gore was not asked.

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Obama to accept nomination at Charlotte stadium (AP)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – President Barack Obama plans to accept the Democratic presidential nomination in the open air of Bank of America Stadium on the final day of his party's convention here next summer, repeating a page from his 2008 convention playbook.

Democrats also announced Tuesday that the convention will be shortened from the traditional four days to three to have a day to celebrate the Carolinas, Virginia and the South. That celebration would take place on Monday, Sept. 3, which is Labor Day, at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The convention would run Tuesday through Thursday, with the first two days at the Time Warner Arena and the final day at Bank of America Stadium.

Obama will deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday, Sept. 6. Moving the speech to the 74,000-seat stadium, which is home to the NFL's Carolina Panthers, will allow thousands more activists and others to attend, officials said.

In 2008, Obama accepted the Democratic nomination under the open skies of Denver's Invesco Field.

"From the start, this convention has been about engaging more people in the process," said Democratic Party Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. "We saw in Denver in 2008 how holding the president's acceptance speech at Invesco Field allowed more American's to be part of the process and part of this experience."

"These people didn't donate any money. They weren't delegates. They were supporters from across the West who received community passes to attend. And we want to replicate that experience right here in Charlotte," said Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman.

Wasserman Schultz and other Democratic officials said they hope the changes create enough excitement to boost Obama's chances of winning North Carolina again. Obama won the state by 14,000 votes in 2008, the slimmest margin of all the states he carried, becoming the first Democrat since Jimmy Carter to carry the state.

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