Gore back in the limelight, and setting off a buzz

Al Gore, the Movie, is coming soon to a theater near you. Well, maybe. But Wednesday's release of "An Inconvenient Truth," a documentary about the former vice president's crusade against global warming, has generated a wave of buzz that has set political tongues to wagging: Will he run for president again?

The liberal blogosphere is alight with chatter over a man once parodied for his stiff, pedantic style, now garnering boffo reviews for his passion and humor. Mr. Gore outshone the likes of Tom Hanks and Halle Berry at Cannes, writes the conservative-turned- progressive Arianna Huffington in her blog. On "Saturday Night Live," Gore's recent parody of himself as president - he's solved global warming and Big Oil wants a bailout - would make a good campaign ad, say the ex-veep's fans.

Gore, who lost the disputed 2000 election to President Bush, insists that after two terms as Bill Clinton's vice president and two runs for the Oval Office - he first tried in 1988 - he's done with presidential politics. In interviews, he refers to himself as a "recovering politician." But he's added a new caveat: "You always have to worry about a relapse," he recently told the Atlanta Progressive News.

Add to the mix a certain wariness from the Democrats' activist, liberal wing toward the early front-runner among potential party candidates - the centrist Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York - and there's fuel for a Draft Gore movement, if he is indeed inclined to sit out the 2008 race.

"There are a whole lot of people looking for someone willing to take on the Republicans and defend Democratic principles, and do it aggressively, in an unvarnished way, without a whole lot of positioning," says Bill Carrick, a Democratic consultant based in Los Angeles. "They're looking for authenticity. Al Gore talking about global warming in this documentary, combined with being almost alone among prominent Democrats in opposing the Iraq war in the earliest stages - a lot of Democrats find that very, very attractive."

If nothing else, the kudos from the left must be a salve to Gore. After the 2000 election, he faced criticism from Democrats - including Mr. Clinton - for running a campaign many observers felt should never have been so close, given the peace and prosperity of the times. Eventually, the former senator from Tennessee, who was a founder of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, reemerged as a favorite of Internet-based activists, endorsing Howard Dean for the Democratic nomination in 2004 and continuing to deliver speeches sponsored by Moveon.org.

Some analysts say it's not fair to compare the non-candidate, non-officeholder Gore to Mrs. Clinton, an active legislator running for reelection and possibly higher office whose every vote and statement is parsed.

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