Why is it that U.S. politicians go to Scandinavia to tell (or to not tell) the Associated Press about their plans for the future?
We don’t know, but we do know that we can always count on the Associated Press to break the news that said politician does not plan to run for president several years hence unless, of course, his or her plans change (or some such).
You may recall that during Rudy Giuliani’s recent trip to Denmark the AP reported the onetime mayor of New York City will “contemplate next year” whether to run for president in 2008. (Perhaps that should have been the news wire’s clue that 2005 is too soon to start election speculation.) Today we learn that Al Gore has “No Plans to Run for President Again,” as he confided to the AP while traveling in Sweden, but that he “did not completely shut the door to political endeavors.” Said Gore, cryptically: “I don’t completely rule out some future interest, but I don’t expect to have that.”
Who’s next? Be assured, as soon as Hillary is next in Norway, the AP will tell be there to tell us her thoughts about 2008.
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.