I was really surprised by Al Gore's announcement last night that he's not running for president in 2004. I assumed that his book tour and recent vocal opposition to the policies of the current administration were a preface to the inevitable - that there would be a rematch of 2000.

Now, this seems to open up the field, and I'm hoping that the Dems that are considering a run for it will focus on the issues and not "eat their own" so to speak.

And did anyone catch Al on SNL? He was pretty good, I think. I was a little disappointed that Darrell Hammond didn't go one on one (playing Gore) with Gore. But the West Wing sketch was funny (and sad), the Stuart Smalley bit was good as always, and I really liked the Hardball bit!