Will Al Gore use Nobel Peace Prize to launch new bid for US presidency?

By WILLIAM LOWTHER and DAVID DERBYSHIRE

Last updated at 09:09 15 October 2007


Al Gore won the Nobel

Peace Prize yesterday and

promptly came under

renewed pressure to run for

the White House.

The former U.S. vice-president

shared the award with a UN

panel for his work on climate

change.

Although Mr Gore refused to rule

out a presidential challenge last

night, his aides have insisted he will

not enter the race.

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Al gore

Opinion polls currently show

Hillary Clinton with a clear lead in

the battle to gain the Democratic

nomination for next year's election.

But political pundits say Mr Gore,

59, could overturn that.

Democrats are worried that Mrs

Clinton could lose to a strong

Republican candidate because of

her early support for the now deeply

unpopular war in Iraq.

Mr Gore and Mrs Clinton are also known to have a

bitter personal dislike of each other.

As Bill Clinton's First Lady, she constantly

snubbed Mr Gore's wife Tipper

and he has so far refused to

endorse her campaign.

However, it seemed the New York

senator was keen to extend the hand

of friendship to her former antagonist

last night.

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al gore an inconvenient truth

Insiders leaked word that if Mrs

Clinton were elected president, she

would appoint Mr Gore as an

Ambassador to the World on climate

change issues.

She is thought to be concerned by

the level of popular support enjoyed

by Mr Gore.

A group called draftgore.com took

out a full-page advert in the New

York Times this week urging him to

run.

It said that none of the current candidates had his "experience,

vision, standing in the world, and

political courage".

Whether or not Mr Gore does try to get back into the

White House, it is clear he has

achieved an amazing comeback

since losing the 2000 election to

George Bush.

Millions still believe that he

defeated Mr Bush in the popular

vote – only to be robbed of the presidency

in the chaos of the Florida

state recount.

Even now, Mr Gore often introduces

himself by saying: "I used to be

the next president of the United

States."

After retiring from politics, he

made an Oscar-winning documentary

on climate change, An Inconvenient

Truth.

The polemic – based on a Power-

Point lecture – was an unlikely box

office success in 2006.

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Al Gore graphic

It has been sent to thousands of British schools by the Government.

But despite Mr Gore's endorsement

by the Nobel committee,

the High Court last week found

that the documentary was riddled

with scientific errors.

Mr Justine Barton said it should

only be shown to schoolchildren

with a health warning.

Mr Gore has also faced accustions of hypocrisy, after it was

revealed his mansion in

Nashville uses more energy in a

fortnight than the average American

family consumes in a year.

The former politician said yesterday

he was "deeply honoured"

to receive the Nobel peace prize,

whose previous winners include

Nelson Mandela and Mother

Teresa.

"The climate crisis is not

a political issue, it is a moral and

spiritual challenge to all of

humanity," he said.

"This award is even more meaningful

because I have the honour

of sharing it with the Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change – the world's pre-eminent

scientific body devoted to improving our understanding of

the climate crisis."

Mr Gore said he would give his

share of the £766,000 prize to a

green campaign group.

Dr Piers Forster from the University of

Leeds, who

has worked with the UN panel,

said: "It's every scientist's dream

to win a Nobel prize, so this is

great for myself and the hundreds that

worked on their reports over the

years.

"It perhaps a little deflating

though – that one man and his

PowerPoint show has as much

influence as the decades of

dedicated work by so many

scientists."

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