Paging Al Gore...

A presumptive 2008 Democratic front-runner has dropped out of the race...

Reuters: Democrat Warner will not seek White House: sources

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, considered a prime contender for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, will announce on Thursday he will not seek the White House, sources close to his campaign said...

This leaves the remaining front-runners (though who knows who will enter/leave the race in the next year) as Sen. Clinton and Sen. Kerry, neither of which options seems appealing. Clinton's too triangulating and divisive and Kerry has his shot already and blew it. So who does that leave the Democrats with?

Al Gore.

They need a candidate with a strong foreign policy record, but one who can also say that they didn't support the Iraq debacle, and one whose terrorism policies are more police-work and intelligence than shock and awe, fear, and Big Brother. Gore fits the bill. His ability to run on the Clinton-era successes (something he failed to do the first time around) without being tainted by Bubba's scandals would help immensely. In addition, the characteristic which caused the media to deride him- his stuffiness and wonkiness- might seem now a plus compared to eight years of frat-boy 'what me worry' leadership and rampant intellectual incuriousity.

For a VP candidate, I'd prefer Sen. Feingold, though as a) an unapologetic liberal and b) a Jew, he might not play well in the heartland. I care about neither, but let's be realistic. Sen. Lieberman's religion was considered a negative to many voters in 2000. A safer, but equally good, choice would be John Edwards, who was sinfully underused in the 2004 campaign and whose natural charisma could compensate where Gore might be lacking. His 'two Americas' theme on poverty and our shrinking middle class has only gained traction among voters since he began speaking about it. Together, he and Gore could really tap into a lot of the unrest many Americans are feeling after years of post-9/11 patriotic silence.

The Democrats would be foolish not to draft them to lead the party's ticket.

(And let us also hope that the Republicans are stupid enough to sink McCain's candidacy again)