Amid Oscar buzz for Gore, backers talk political encore

WASHINGTON -- Among the stars gathering tomorrow night for the Academy Awards will be a man whose face may be rounder than in years past, but whose step down the red carpet may have more bounce.

Al Gore, the star of the global warming film "An Inconvenient Truth," which is the odds-on favorite to capture the award for Best Documentary, has been transformed in the eyes of many in the last year from an oft-maligned former vice president to a man whom some bloggers call the "Goracle" for his prescient messages on climate change and his warning in 2002 about the dangers in Iraq.

Now, if the Oscar becomes his -- and the film community gives him the expected rousing tribute before a worldwide audience of hundreds of millions -- his supporters are ready to demand an encore: another presidential run.

Gore, who lost the electoral tally to President Bush in 2000 but won the popular vote, has repeatedly said he has no plans to run. All three of his 2000 presidential campaign accounts have been closed, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Still, political pundits say, Gore could raise large amounts of money very quickly based on his record and name recognition, and his statements about the 2008 race haven't foreclosed the possibility of reconsidering at a later date. Several observers, including supporters and detractors, say they could envision a political drama in which the current candidates become sullied over the Iraq war and liberal voters call for Gore to enter the race.

Around the country, many are already plotting ways to persuade Gore to run. One of them is Linda Sophia Pinti , a Democratic activist in Cambridge, Mass., who has been holding monthly "draft Gore" meetings since June. She said at least 25 other gatherings are held regularly around the country.

"I think he will not run unless there is a strong and vociferous draft movement," Pinti said yesterday.

She believes that the draft movement will grow exponentially in the coming months, helped by more than a half-dozen websites, including algore.org and draftgore.com , neither of which is affiliated with Gore himself.

"I think Al Gore is one of our greatest patriots, and when a call is strong enough and loud enough, a patriot will respond to the call of duty," Pinti said, expressing excitement over the possibility that an Oscar win would put the spotlight back on Gore.

Jimmy Carter, for one, has repeatedly pressed for Gore to run, most recently in a TV interview to be broadcast tomorrow.

Some party faithful believe the chances of a Gore candidacy would greatly increase if one of the two candidates reportedly leading in the polls, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, were to falter. Still, party leaders maintained, Gore would have to want the nomination badly enough in order to quit a global warming campaign that by all accounts he loves.

Even though Gore has eyed the presidency since he was a young man, close advisers say he has been energized and happy channeling his ambitions in the past few years toward reversing climate change.

"I would love it if he could run. He has the best profile of any candidate," said Bob Somerby , Gore's roommate at Harvard University, who runs www.dailyhowler.com , a press critique website.

Somerby, who has not been in recent contact with Gore, speculated that his position on Iraq could be a cornerstone of a campaign. In 2002, Gore roundly denounced plans for an invasion at a time when few Democrats did so, saying in one of many speeches attacking the war, "The chaos in the aftermath of a military victory in Iraq could easily pose a far greater danger to the United States than we presently have from Saddam" Hussein .

Those types of comments have endeared Gore to antiwar activists, many of whom yearn for him to run for president again. Environmentalists, too, have urged Gore to go for it -- and an Oscar win would give them a new occasion to rally supporters.

And there are other events that could keep the former vice president in the news. On Thursday he was named one of 181 nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize, for his work on the environment.

"A prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference," said Boerge Brende, a Norwegian member of Parliament who nominated Gore.

Next month, Gore is set to testify before Congress on global warming. And in July, he is organizing an international day of seven rock concerts to increase awareness of climate change.

Gore declined an interview request this week. Kalee Kreider , his spokeswoman and environmental adviser, said the former vice president is spending "the majority of his time on the issue of global warming. He wants to continue to bring awareness of the dangers that global warming presents."

Asked about Gore's current thinking about running for president, Kreider said nothing has changed. "He says it best, that he has no intention of running for office in 2008."

Many of his friends take him at his word. Somerby is one.

"I would be shocked if he ran because all that garbage from the past campaigns would be done all over again," said Somerby, recalling that the George H.W. Bush called Gore the "Ozone Man" and many radio talk show commentators have labeled him a "nut" for his environmental views. Even though polls suggest a growing concern about climate change, voters may not be ready for a full-throated global warming analyst in the White House.

Philip Clapp , president of the Washington-based National Environmental Trust , who has known Gore for 30 years, said he believed Gore was having too good a time "doing what he's doing" to enter the presidential race. "He's having all the impact without the unbelievable cost of spending the next year eating rubber chicken dinners every night," Clapp said.

Michael Feldman , a former Gore adviser and now a partner in the communications firm Glover Park Group , said Gore has been "pretty clear publicly and privately about not running. There's no distance between what you are hearing publicly and what he's saying privately about this." Feldman said the campaign on global warming "has given him freedom. It's been a gift."

That doesn't discourage Pinti, the Gore backer from Cambridge.

"He's the comeback kid," she said of Gore. "We think he's left the door open, and its our job to convince him to accept the draft."

John Donnelly can be reached at donnelly@globe.com.