Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is the former forty-fifth Vice President of the United States, who served from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore also served in the U. S. House of Representatives (1977-85) and the U. S. Senate (1985-93), representing Tennessee. Gore was the Democratic nominee for president in the 2000 election, ultimately losing to the Republican candidate George W. Bush in spite of winning the popular vote. A legal controversy over the Florida election recount was eventually settled in favor of Bush by the Supreme Court.

A prominent environmental activist, Gore was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize (together with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) for the "efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." He also starred in the Academy Award - winning documentary on the topic of global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. In 2007, Gore helped to organize the July 7 benefit concert for global warming, Live Earth.

Gore is currently chairman of the Emmy Award - winning American television channel Current TV, chairman of Generation Investment Management, a director on the board of Apple Inc., an unofficial advisor to Google's senior management, chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection, and a partner in the venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, heading that firm's climate change solutions group.

There was public speculation over the possibility of a run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination although Gore frequently stated that "I have no plans to run."