With national polls still showing Edwards in the mid-teens and South Carolina polls showing him with momentum, perhaps enough mo' to push him into second tomorrow, the chances that Obama or Hillary wins 50% of the national delegates goes down.  Major news outlets, like the Wall Street Jounal this week, have begun speculating that Edwards may wind up becoming the king maker in the event that a majority is not one amongst his primary opponents.  

If we do find ourselves without a nominee yet come August, I think what I wrote earlier this month still applies:

Flash forward to late August - none of the "big three" have a majority and the convention is brokered. What happens?  For one, unless one of the candidates is extremely close to a majority, I can't imagine any candidate being able to coax enough delegates to switch their support on the second ballot. Likewise, I can't imagine any candidate "releasing" their delegates to vote for someone else unless some deal is struck whereby a VP spot is guaranteed or something to that effect.  That only leaves one option: a compromise candidate.  It has been mentioned a few times that Al Gore would be the perfect fit if such a scenario arose - he has universal name recognition, a huge grassroots following, and has had one of the most impressive years imaginable, winning an Oscar, Emmy, and Nobel Peace Prize.

And please, before the first nine out of ten comments read "Leave the man be, he has said 'no,'" let me remind you that Al has yet to outright rule out a run in 2008 or the future.  In fact, in the diary I wrote in November stating my support for Obama, I had speculated that he kept the door slightly ajar in the [then] unlikely event that there was a brokered convention.  Also, while you can take it however you'd like, I have heard from sources in Tennessee that Gore would indeed be receptive to a convention draft should it occur.

Of course, almost all of this is speculative, but nonetheless, it was still very intriguing to hear the most influential Democrat in South Carolina, Rep. Jim Clyburn, say this earlier today [h/t JekyllnHyde]:

I almost fell out of my chair when Congressman Clyburn said that he expects the nominee to be selected at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August 2008.  He sees "three tickets" out of the South Carolina Primary -- Clinton, Obama, and Edwards -- all the way to the Convention.

Also as JekyllnHyde points out, the Clinton-Obama fighting will likely escalate as Super Tuesday approaches and passes.  This will further call on there to emerge a "compromise candidate" at the convention to heal the major infighting the party has suffered the past many months, especially of late. I mean, people need look no further than the front-page poll Meteor Blades conducted yesterday where an astounding 25% of respondents answered something other than 'No' or 'Hell No' to the question:

If your No. 1 and No. 2 choices were to fail to get the Democratic nomination for president, would you vote for John McCain?

Obviously, for the vast majority of people here, the above question means Hillary is our nominee.  More importantly though, I'm one to assume that this is largely a direct reflection of the, at times, take-no-prisoners approach her campaigns employs with her Democratic opponents.  A quarter of us, almost exclusively partisan Democrats, would not vote for Hillary should she be the nominee?  I don't even want to think what that percentage might be among non-partisans.  This too leaves an opportunity for there to be a "compromise candidate" at the convention.

Also today, Jack Cafferty delved further into the idea and specifically asked his viewers what they thought of Al Gore coming in to save the party:

Consider this: What if we go through the Florida primary and Super Tuesday and the race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remains as tight as it's been? For the primaries, Democrats have the same rules in every state: delegates are awarded in proportion to the vote -- meaning no winner-take-all. If Clinton and Obama continue to split the vote in many states, it's possible we could get to late spring or early summer and neither candidate would have enough delegates to secure the nomination.

And that's assuming they get that far without destroying each other with their increasingly nasty bickering. There just might be an opening for someone else to step in and unify the party. Oh, you know, like say maybe Al Gore.

The responses ranged from the simple:

I like Al Gore. If he ran I would vote for him.

-John

to the insightful:

Yes, in a big way. Al Gore has proven over and over again that he has the right stuff. He picked his life up after the election debacle and followed his path. He is a true leader and advocate for this country and the world. A man of intellect and integrity , not one to follow anyone else's drumbeat. Could we be so fortunate!

-Paula

to the funny but unfortunately true:

There is more than room for Al Gore regardless of what Hillary and Barack do as long as he doesn't bring whining Joe along and the courts keep out of the results. Al and John Edwards would be an attractive ticket and would bring many young voters into the Democratic column on election day. He's already beat Bush once and all the Republican candidates, except Ron Paul, are simply Bush clones.

-Jim

It also happens that one of John Edwards' senior campaign advisers, Joe Trippi, predicted back in April that there would be a brokered convention and speculated that Gore could be drafted.  I say this because this is a man who has considerable sway over Edwards' campaign strategy, a campaign that is the critical factor in turning the brokered convention scenario into a reality.  I'd be hard pressed to believe the possibility of one isn't on his mind.

In response to today's news, I just received this email from the America for Gore Press Officer as well:

Jack Cafferty is blogging about a Gore convention draft. Weigh in at http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/ if you wish. I already did, letting people know AFG is still around and on the case, basically saying it may not happen but we are ready to act if the opportunity arises.

I know that upon my leaving the group late last year, some people were indeed still planning to stick around and prepare for a brokered convention.  One of our Draft Gore leaders in Michigan was a big planner behind the "Uncommitted" vote in Michigan, so it wouldn't surprise me if there were a few Gore people sprinkled in there.  Likewise, in other states like Draft Gore New Jersey, they were preparing to run uncommitted Gore supporters the whole time.  All it might take is a small group of savvy Gore supporters on the floor of the convention - and some media speculation might help - to successfully push for a draft of Gore, tanned, rested, and ready.

While I think it is early to begin thinking about how we might try to influence the outcome of a brokered convention, if the race looks close after February 5th, I don't think we'll be able to ignore its specter any longer.  Will we push for Edwards to make a deal with Obama in exchange for his delegates (or Hillary)?  Will we push for some other combination with the existing three candidates? Or will we be personally calling national delegates urging them to consider a "compromise candidate" like Gore to enter the fray?