In light of Al Gore's statement yesterday that he "may re-enter politics" -- widely discussed here:  http://www.dailykos.com/... -- I think it's time for those of us who would like to see him join the 2008 Presidential field to find ways to encourage his thinking in this direction.

Al Gore is Chairman of Current TV, a channel that takes it's programming from the submissions of ordinary citizens in an effort to democratize television content and hasten the eventual merging of television and internet. Recently, Gore sent an email asking people to create "ecospot" ads for Current TV highlighting ways to solve the Climate Crisis. Here's a link for those interested: http://www.current.tv/...

It occurred to me that those interested in seeing Al Gore enter the Presidential race could submit their own Al Gore ads to show their support. Here's the page on Current TV about submitting content: http://www.current.tv/...

Many of you may recall my great love for the Freewaybloggerand what he does. And some of you may be new to the phenomenon.

Me, I love the concept for these reasons:

• It's free, or nearly free -- with minimal materials costs
• It's unfiltered
• It can be as high or low impact as you're comfortable with
• It revives the "public square" and public political speech that has been killed in the era of solitary news consumption

But as wonderful and liberating an opportunity as freeway blogging can be, and as many of us as there are who celebrate it, the plain fact is that most of us are afraid of doing it.

So it gives me great pleasure to point all aspiring practitioners of public discourse to the First Annual Freewayblogger Public Punditry Contest.

A staff report from Brandweek Magazine (warning, 17MB pdf) claims that Al Gore’s image used to be "rotten," but no more.

From a marketing point of view, Gore has achieved in six years what most CMOs [Chief Marketing Officers] dream of achieving in a lifetime: He has turned around a tired old brand that everyone thought was spent into something fresh, controversial, lucrative and interesting. And he has done it—like all guerrilla marketers—on a tiny marketing budget.

According to Brandweek, if he were not a politician, “...Gore would be hailed as one of the most interesting businessmen of our age.” The article highlights marketing ploys such as the Inconvenient Christian marketing to evangelicals, and his Futurama film trailer with Bender.

What if...

you had a projector, and the means to project an image from a laptop onto the walls of buildings as rush hour traffic crawled by...

what would you say to these people?

I'm thinking...

* the video of GWB giving the camera the finger

* pictures of the fallen soldiers he killed in Iraq

* graphs of our economic decline

* quotes of the local Republicrooks praising the worst president ever.

but you tell me.

'cause I'm going to do it...

I'm creating a series of 7 banners for display along southbound St Helena Hwy 29 between Yountville and Napa. Solano Road fronts 29, so kool-aid drinking motorists can't take me out with driving through a fence.

Link incase I exceed the bandwidth limit:
http://www.springmanrecords.com/...

Feel free to use the "Dead elephant" artwork for anything you want as long as you don't sell it, links to the art in various formats are below the fold.

If you have ideas for new tag-lines or slogans to stick on this graphic, please post them in the comments!

In race after race after race, Republicans are choosing to gloss over their party affiliation, choosing instead to claim that they are "independent thinkers," "willing to work with all sides," and other claims of nonpartisanship.

A lie of omission is still a lie, though, and I think it's time to force their hand. Let's get republicans to take credit for what they've done for their country. They've voted the party line the last 6 years, it's time they collect their just reward.

Join me on the flip...

Back then, the NSA spying story had just broken -- though now we know that the New York Times had actually been sitting on the story since well before the 2004 elections. (Thanks, fellas!)

Reading that story was transformative for me. That's the moment I knew that the "I word" had to be liberated from all its fringe-y connotations, and that a serious case for this most serious Constitutional remedy could be made out.

So we came up with a way to lift the veil, and put the word back in the public eye.

Pretty soon, everybody was talking about it, if only in hushed tones.

While standing at the gas pump today, watching the dollars and cents spinning too fast in comparison to the "Gallons" dial, I stood there muttering to myself, "What the hell will it take to impeach this criminal son of a bitch?"

Then it dawned on me.

I call it a fall-back position not because there isn't truth to it. No one, at this stage, expects Republicans to vote for investigations, much less impeachment. But the real arguments and considerations about impeachment have never been about this stage. They've all been about building towards the next stage.

The last simply made the point that the excuse that "we don't have the numbers" applies equally to everything Democrats are considering for the future, whether as major campaign themes or not. We don't have the numbers for any of it. And while we can debate whether or not making any given issue into a campaign theme is a wise thing, one thing we can't use to differentiate between other things and impeachment is that "we don't have the numbers."

Today, something different.

Two were deployed inside the Capital Beltway on Interstate 66 at Great Falls Street - one for eastbound traffic and one for westbound traffic.

The third was a new idea - attach it to a different kind of barrier and on a non-interstate artery.  This one went over Rt. 50 (Arlington Boulevard) at 7 Corners in Falls Church.

All three were standing at noon today, so all morning commuters traveling in those locations saw them, presumably.  By 1pm, the Rt. 50 one had been violently ripped down.  That's the nature of freeway blogging - ephemeral.

Below the fold is a montage of images I took of the signs while driving...

Many folks - some Kossacks, some not - are doing what they can to devise the most effective "Alito Torpedo" that they can, to prevent this dangerous change in the nature of our Supreme Court.  I'm working on my bit.

Several bits, in fact - I call the effort "Flash Forward".  And I could use some help.  More after the jump.

You can feel it, but you can't see it. Yet.

That's what this is all about.

Believe me, your neighbors feel the same nagging feeling. Set them free. Set yourself free. Say the word: IMPEACH.

We're just days away from another crucial opportunity to put the word back into the public consciousness, where it belongs: the State of the Union Address.

Yesterday was our first stab at a National IMPEACH Guerrilla Action Day.

Thanks to furryjester, our group of old people from the suburbs of Northern Virginia got together in the offices of the local Democratic Committee, with kids in tow, and painted signs.

And I mean a lot of signs.

What we weren't really sure of was whether we'd be all alone. Thankfully, we weren't.

After hitting San Diego hard, The Freeway Blogger headed north for some serious Impeach blogging in Orange County, CA, a Republican stronghold directly southeast of Los Angeles. Click here for five high-resolution photos of the damage.

When you look at those photos, know that they represent freeway blogging at its best. While images such as this San Francisco photo are inspiring, they don't usually have the impact of visually less impressive postings, which aren't as much a target for removal.

Click here for more San Diego photos.

San Diego has just been hit hard by The Freeway Blogger. This is the first major California city to be hit in the Jan 8 - 9 Impeach Campaign. The Freeway Blogger is currently heading up the California coast, deploying upwards of 40 IMPEACH freeway blog posts.