Gore Likely to Host Obama Fundraiser In Nashville

By Kleinheider Posted on July 18, 2008 at 1:04 pm

Those Obama supporters out there feeling left behind by Barack Obama’s lack attention to Tennessee may be in for some excitement relatively soon. Post Politics has learned that a conference call took place this morning to make arrangements to bring the Democratic Presidential nominee to Nashville.

On the call were operatives in the Chicago campaign office of Barack Obama, Obama supporters here in Tennessee as well as a representative of former Vice President Al Gore, Beth Alpert.

The purpose of the call was to discuss the possibility for a Gore-hosted Obama fundraiser right here in Nashville, Tennessee before the Democratic National Convention in late August.

Preliminary plans call for two events. One would be a private high dollar affair possibly at the home of Al & Tipper Gore, the other a more public event at bigger location such as the Ryman Auditorium.

While Obama came within a hair’s breath of Tennessee just a few weeks ago when he kicked of his general election campaign in Bristol, Virginia, he has not visited the state in a public way since June 2007.

Obama’s wife, Michelle, was in Tennessee for fundraiser this past May. The trip was made infamous when the TNGOP came out with a viral video on YouTube to “welcome” her to the state.

The video, which spliced regular folks discussing their reasons for being proud of being an American with Obama’s famous quote, “For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country,” was roundly denounced by Democrats and Republicans in the state and made national news when Barack Obama denounced the state party on Good Morning America telling the party to “lay off my wife.”

The prospect of an Obama fundraiser at Al Gore’s Belle Meade home is likely to inspire the creative juices of the same crowd who “welcomed” Michelle Obama. Gore’s Belle Meade home was made famous in February 2007 by libertarian think tank, The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, when they asserted that the home’s energy use was out of step with his persona as an environmental activist.

Most recently, that same libertarian think tank teamed up with a national group to fly a hot-air balloon over the Gore home after claims that Gore’s “green” renovations to the domicile did not result in a precipitous change in the house’s carbon footprint.

Gore, who has remained largely an apolitical figure of late, endorsed Barack Obama only after he had mathematically secured the nomination but did take the rare step of soliciting funds for him on his website coinciding with the endorsement.

Post Politics is told that final plans for the Gore hosted Obama fundraiser could be made as early as next week.

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Tags: Al Gore, Barack Obama, Beth Alpert, Michelle Obama, Nashville, Tennessee