It wasn't at all surprising to me that there is a sophisticated volunteer organization dedicated to drafting Al Gore for the Democratic presidential nomination. And it is sophisticated, according to the website: they have 2354 volunteers and 271 groups. And with the continuing reluctance to whole heartedly embrace Hillary Clinton and much dissatisfaction over alternatives Edwards, Obama, Richardson and the rest. Al Gore is the only one who could turn this race upside down.

But it appears to be all in vain. The leader of the Draft Gore committee wrote a letter, published at DailyKos, where she reveals that Al Gore himself is telling them to knock it off:

Dear AFG Steering Committee Members:

We have received a communication from a member of Al Gore's staff discouraging our efforts to put Al Gore's name on any primary ballots. This includes California, New York, Massachusetts, and the write-in effort in New Hampshire, as well as any other states that are working to get him on the ballot. Accordingly, effective immediately, we are recommending that all groups cease their signature collection and related fund-raising activities.

AlGore.org

Well. That's that then. The biggest obstacle between Hillary and the Democratic nomination is now gone for sure. Political junkies will all mark this as a sad day, for now it seems quite clear that nothing interesting will happen on the Democratic side of the race until the convention.

For Al Gore it's apparent that traveling around the world and accepting Nobel prizes is a lot more fun than taking on, in succession, the Clinton and the GOP political machines.