Al Gore, Dems' Back-Up Plan

If the Democratic nomination isn’t wrapped up before August's convention, the party might have a third choice: the one they crowned in 2000. If Barack Obama is too bloodied and Hillary Clinton too divisive, Joe Klein writes in Time, a superdelegate coup could yield an Al Gore-Obama ticket on the spot. Of course, the party would have to be “monumentally desperate.”

Angry infighting is normal at this point in a contested primary, but given the brutal tactics Clinton appears willing to deploy, Democrats might well need a fresh face for the general election. Klein allows that his plan is far-fetched, but says retreating to old reliable is exactly the thinking that landed John McCain atop the Republican heap.