"I'm really proud and honored to endorse Howard Dean," said Gore (L)

NEW YORK, December 9 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Former U.S. vice President Al Gore Tuesday, December 9, threw his weight behind Howard Dean to become the Democratic nominee to vie against President George Bush in the 2004 presidential election.

The endorsement adds much prestige to the campaign of Dean, a liberal who one year ago was virtually unknown to the U.S. public but has steamrolled his way to the front of the Democratic candidates.

"Howard Dean really is the only candidate who has been able to inspire at the grassroots level all over this country the kind of passion and enthusiasm for democracy and change and transformation of America that we need in this country," Gore told a rally with Dean in New York's Harlem district, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"I'm really proud and honored to endorse Howard Dean to be the next President of the United States of America," Gore declared, calling for a united front against Bush.

"What is going on in this Bush White House today is bad for our country," averred the former vice president.

"And it's slowly beginning to sink in to more and more people out there. And we don't have the luxury of fighting among ourselves to the point where we seriously damage our ability to win on behalf of the American people this time around."

Gore charged that Washington "has been weakened in its ability to fight the war against terror because of the catastrophic mistake the Bush administration made in taking us into war in Iraq."

Dean has strongly opposed the Iraq invasion and has also taken up many of the populist pro-labor causes that Gore has supported.

Gore is the first influential Democrat to publicly endorse any of the nine Democrat candidates.

Dean, a 55-year-old former doctor whose main political experience was as governor of the small northeastern state of Vermont, is one of nine candidates competing for the Democratic ticket.

He reaffirmed his main campaign cry, that next November's election will be about "jobs in America again; about investing. Instead of giving three trillion worth of tax cuts to the top one percent of Americans, it's about mass transit and schools and investing in roads and bridges and renewable energy and broadband telecommunications so we can eliminate the digital divide and have jobs all over America."

In 2000, Gore lost to Bush in one of the most disputed elections in the history of the United States.

The ex-vice president considered running against Bush again, but announced one year ago that he was staying away from the battle.

Lieberman Stunned

"I was caught completely off guard - no notice," said Lieberman

Gore's decision will be a blow to many of the other eight Democrats standing for the nomination, particularly Senator Joseph Lieberman, who was Gore's running mate in 2000.

Lieberman's camp was stunned to hear of Gore's decision, which was leaked to the media Monday, December 8.

"I was caught completely off guard - no notice," Lieberman told NBC's "Today" program Tuesday, ahead of Gore's formal announcement.

"I heard about it from the media. I was surprised," Lieberman added, "but I'm more determined than ever to continue to fight for what I believe is right for my party and my country to take us forward and not backwards."

He accused Gore of "endorsing somebody who has taken positions in this campaign that are diametrically opposite to what Al himself has said he believed in over the years.

"I'm not going to talk about Al Gore's sense of loyalty this morning. I'm just going to tell you that I will always remain grateful to him for the extraordinary opportunity he gave me to run as his vice Presidential candidate, and I have no second thoughts about what I did in 2001 and 2002."