Former Democratic Governor Urges Gore to Seek Presidency

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Labeling the Democratic voices from the presidential field "babble," prominent Democrat Mario Cuomo is calling on former Vice President Al Gore to enter the race for the party's nomination.

Gore, who lost the disputed 2000 race to President Bush, has said he would not seek the party's nomination - a point stressed by his spokesman Michael Feldman. "The vice president is not going to be a candidate in 2004," Feldman said in response to Cuomo's appeal.

Still, Cuomo urged Gore to return to the political fray because the party lacks a single candidate to rally around.

"I would like to see him get in," said Cuomo in an interview with WROW-AM radio in Albany, N.Y. snip

The former New York governor said he did talk to Gore in 2000, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bush's favor to clinch the election, and told his fellow Democrat that he hoped Gore would run for the White House again.

"He did get more votes than the other guy," Cuomo said Wednesday, a reference to the popular vote.

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