One clear reason the press seems so intrigued by the Gore resurrection narrative is that a Gore comeback would make for an incredible story, and, more than anything, journalists yearn for amazing stories. That said, we wish political journalists would take off their cynical blinkers and 2008-tinted glasses long enough to give more credence to Gore when he says that combating global warming is his passion and repeats, over and over, that he is not running for president. The Boston Globe’s Peter Canellos is one of the few who have done that, writing in a March column that “Gore seems to be embracing his new role as an activist, not a candidate.” His 2000 defeat, Canellos perceptively added, “provided an unexpected release: the freedom to speak with fuller honesty.”

Our second point is more subtle: the unspoken, unacknowledged role of the political press in building up Gore’s (still-unlikely) candidacy. As we’ve noted before, reporters like to pretend they are umpires, not players on the field, but it’s a distinction without a difference. Every time a Jackie Calmes, an Eleanor Clift, a Clarence Page, a Bill Schneider or a Larry Kuplow speculates about a Gore bandwagon they are implicitly constructing one. With each story, Gore’s profile increases. Every time they ask him about it, the resulting coverage can only add to the possibility that Gore will, someday, actually commit to his Nixonian remake.

However indirectly or unacknowledged, each new story sets the stage for Al Gore — Democratic candidate — to make a return.

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