US: The decision by former US vice president Mr Al Gore not to run again for president has opened the contest in the Democratic Party for a candidate to challenge the President, Mr George Bush, in 2004.
Mr Gore's surprise withdrawal is not good news for the White House, which had been gearing up for a repeat match with a candidate whom they saw as a weakened force lacking the whole-hearted support of his party.
Mr Gore (54) made the announcement on Sunday evening in an interview on the CBS 60 Minutes programme, saying that another fight with Mr Bush "would not be the right thing for me to do".
Mr Gore said he still had the energy and ambition to run again, but many people in the party felt exhausted by the 2000 campaign and didn't want to go through that again.
"I'm frankly sensitive to that feeling," he said.
"I think that a campaign that would be a rematch between myself and President Bush would inevitably involve a focus on the past that would in some measure distract from the focus on the future."
The large number of aspirants jostling for the Democratic nomination suggests that many in the party believe Mr Bush may not be invincible in 2004, despite his current high approval ratings.
There are seven probables at present: Connecticut Senator Mr Joseph Lieberman; Senate Democratic leader Mr Tom Daschle of South Dakota; former House Democratic leader, Mr Dick Gephardt of Missouri; Massachusetts Senator Mr John Kerry; Vermont Governor Mr Howard Dean; North Carolina Senator Mr John Edwards; and civil rights activist Mr Al Sharpton.
With Mr Gore out of the picture, other Democrats may throw their hat in the ring, including Connecticut Senator Mr Chris Dodd, Delaware Senator Mr Joseph Biden and retired general Mr Wesley Clark.
Many Democratic activists also support a run by Hillary Rodham Clinton but the New York Senator has ruled herself out for 2004.
A survey of Democrats by the Washington Post in November showed that with Mr Gore out of the race, Mr Lieberman finished first, followed by Mr Kerry, Mr Gephardt, Mr Daschle and Mr Sharpton, with Mr Dean and Mr Edwards trailing badly.
Another survey confirmed that Mr Gore was perceived by many in his party to be a problematic candidate, with 54 per cent of Democrats saying they would prefer something other than a Gore-Lieberman ticket to challenge Mr Bush.
Mr Gore "would have been the easiest of our guys for Bush to beat", said one party strategist in California. "We need people who can speak out against the President, keep him off balance."
In 2000, Mr Gore won the popular vote by half a million votes but conceded to Mr Bush after a 36-day Florida recount and a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling against him.
He disappeared from public view after 2000, but in recent weeks he had been adopting a high profile, conducting a book tour and making several appearances on television.
Mr Lieberman, who indicated he would not run if Mr Gore was a candidate, admitted yesterday that the decision had caught him off guard, as Mr Gore had said he would announce around Christmas.
A supporter of war against Iraq, Mr Lieberman has been positioning himself for the nomination by raising funds and lobbying for support. This week, he is making a presidential-style trip to the Persian Gulf where he will visit US troops.
While he has the highest profile of the field, some Democrats find his moralistic tone grating, and he is not popular with the liberal left for his centrist views.
Mr Kerry has already announced the formation of an exploratory committee. The Vietnam war veteran is ahead of the field in New Hampshire, the north-eastern state with an early primary election, which can make or break a candidacy.
He is popular with liberals in the party, but not with those who believe that to defeat Mr Bush the party must move to the centre.
However he is independently wealthy which gives him an edge over his competitors.
Mr Daschle has also not disguised his ambitions. He lunched for two hours on Tuesday with Democratic National Committee chairman Mr Terence McAuliffe, who said yesterday "I think Daschle will now definitely run."
The 54-year-old former altar boy has been consistently under-rated in his political career. As Senate majority leader, Mr Daschle helped former president Mr Bill Clinton avoid impeachment over the Monica Lewinsky scandal and thwarted many ideology-driven Republican policies during the first two years of the Bush presidency. However, he is associated with the loss of the Senate in mid-term elections.
Mr Gephardt is also tarnished by his failure to become Speaker of the House of Representatives when the Republicans increased their majority in Congress last month. He stepped down as minority leader to concentrate on a run for the White House.
Mr Dean has already declared his candidacy, and is stepping down as governor of Vermont to campaign full-time.
He claimed that in Mr Gore's absence, he was the only candidate who opposed the President's request for Congressional authority to wage war on Iraq and who advocated universal health insurance.
The dark horse of the candidates is North Carolina Senator Mr Edwards, who became a hero to the left and a target for the right for torpedoing the Bush nomination of conservative US District Court Judge Charles Pickering to the US Court of Appeals.