Democratic political experts who played significant roles in Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, expressed strong skepticism that Gore would challenge Democratic frontrunners Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.).   Ex-campaign manager Donna Brazile, former policy director Elaine Kamarck, former media strategist Tad Devine, ex-traveling chief of staff Michael Feldman and former spokesmen Chris Lehane and Jano Cabrera shared their views with The Hill. None of these former advisers are helping a Democratic presidential campaign.

Feldman, who maintains close ties with the former vice president, said he is staying out of the nomination battle, but not because of any private intimations from Gore.

Feldman said his neutrality in the primary is “certainly not because the former vice president or any of his surrogates have asked me not to.”

“I’m fully focused on my job,” said Feldman, a partner at Glover Park Group. “I’m fully focused on my full-time job. I take him at his word on this and nothing he has said privately has differed from what he has said publicly. He is not planning to run for president.”

Gore’s closest political confidants, Carter Eskew and Peter Knight, as might be expected, have refrained from lining up behind any presidential campaign.

Former Gore strategists Bob Shrum, Michael Whouley and Monica Dixon are also staying neutral in the primary, said members of Gore’s circle. Whouley and Dixon did not respond to requests for comment.

A few senior operatives from the 2000 campaign, which fell 537 votes short of now-President Bush, have allied themselves with Democratic contenders. William Daley, Gore’s campaign chairman, supports Obama. Ron Klain, a senior strategiest in 2000, has aligned himself with Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.).

Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has attracted the highest-profile former Gore strategists. Harrison Hickman, Gore’s pollster, David Ginsberg, Gore’s researcher, and Nick Baldick, who played a leading role in the 2000 campaign, are assisting Edwards.  

Sarah Bianchi, Gore’s former deputy policy director, has provided advice to Clinton’s campaign but does not have a formal role and would be available to join a Gore campaign under the right circumstances.

Brazile, who spoke to Gore in March about his potential presidential ambitions, said there is no secret agreement among Gore’s allies to wait for his re-entry into presidential politics.

“There’s no conspiracy about top Gore people waiting it out,” she said. “ I can’t give you a clue why we’re on the sidelines. We all have our reasons.”

Brazile said she was an early proponent of Gore running in 2008 but quieted her advocacy after Gore expressed little interest.

“I’ve seen him and talked to him and I’ve seen no sign,” she said. “I said that I think he should run but, after talking to him in March, I see no evidence, no sign…. So I’ve stopped talking about him.”

Brazile noted that she and many Gore advisers stayed neutral in the 2004 Democratic primary as well. She said those who became involved in Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) presidential race, such as Shrum and Whouley, did so because of connections to the candidate or his home state.

Speculation about a potential Gore bid intensified after “An Inconvenient Truth,” Gore’s film about global warming, won an Oscar earlier this year. Since then, however, sources close to Gore say the chances of him running have fallen significantly. One source said the chances of a run are close to nil.

Judging from public records of campaign contributions, a large number of Gore’s top fundraisers have not yet settled on a preferred candidate. Ten of Gore’s 25 top fundraisers in 2000 have not given any money to a presidential campaign this year, according to a review of campaign records. An 11th, Charles Bone of Nashville, gave a mere $500 to Clinton.

(The Center for Responsive Politics has posted a list of donors who raised $100,000 or more for Gore in 2000.)