Gore backers hope Nobel honor pushes him into presidential race

Al Gore's supporters immediately raised hopes today that his sharing of the Nobel Peace Prize will convince him to jump into the presidential race, though the former vice president has repeatedly denied any interest.

The prize “vividly demonstrates the international acclaim Gore’s environmental initiatives have earned and the stature he has achieved worldwide," Fred Koed, chairman of Draft Gore Massachusetts, said in a statement. "Add to this the courage he showed in his early opposition to going to war in Iraq and you begin to understand why thousands of citizens are working as volunteers throughout the nation to bring him into the race. The Nobel may tip the balance.”

The Massachusetts group is trying to collect at least 2,500 certified signatures by Dec. 21 to get Gore on the March 4 Democratic primary ballot in the Bay State. It is one of several around the country trying to draft Gore, who narrowly lost the 2000 presidential election. Another group bought a full-page ad in The New York Times on Wednesday urging Gore to run.

One fellow Democrat who is in the presidential race, John Edwards, quickly congratulated Gore -- and used the opportunity to get another dig in at President Bush.

"The Nobel Peace Prize rewards three decades of Vice President Gore's prescient and compelling -– and often lonely –- advocacy for the future of the Earth," the former North Carolina senator said in a statement issued by his campaign. "His leadership stands in stunning contrast to the failure of the current administration to pursue policies that would reduce the harm of global warming.

"The Nobel Committee's recognition of Vice President Gore shines a bright light on the most inconvenient truth of all –- the selection of George Bush as president has endangered the peace and prosperity of the entire planet," the statement continued. "Two terms later, Americans are ready for bold change, ready to be patriotic about something other than war and ready to take action to stop global warming before it's too late. The stakes are sky-high –- as Al Gore predicted, our Earth is in the balance."