History UsefulNotes / AlGore

To the frustration of Clinton and some of his loyalists, the Gore campaign, instead of attempting to leverage Clinton's popularity and the strong economy and running on the promise of a "third Clinton term," tried to distance itself from the Clinton administration, especially the Monica Lewinsky scandal and what some considered [[TheScapegoat a failure of oversight]] on Gore's part. Gore began from an advantage, as Clinton's approval ratings were still high, but the economy was weathering the dot-com bubble, while many saw Bush (the son of former president [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush]]) as little more than a brand name. That quickly changed over the course of the debates (''[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass "They misunderestimated me!"]]''), when Bush successfully took the initiative away from Gore on the issue of Social Security privatization. Bush alleged that S.S. would go bankrupt if left unchecked. While Gore initially refuted this claim, he finally blinked and rolled out the "lockbox" plan, an [[MissingStepsPlan opaque strategy]] to say the least. The lockbox was much-parodied and viewed by the electorate as a tacit admission that Bush was right. Unfortunately for Gore's camp, they fumbled the ball again by neglecting key battleground states -- including Gore's home turf of Tennessee -- which turned Republican despite the assumption that they were in Gore's pocket.

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) was the forty-fifth vice president of the United States, serving under the forty-second President, UsefulNotes/BillClinton, from 1993 to 2001. Before that, he served as U.S. representative for the UsefulNotes/{{Nashville}} area (1977–1985) and then as UsefulNotes/{{Tennessee}}'s junior U.S. senator (1985–1993). (He didn't have the same Senate seat that his father and namesake had before him.) In 2000, with Clinton constitutionally ineligible to run for president again, Gore became the Democratic Party's nominee for president, running on a platform that one could sum up as ''"If it isn't broken, don't fix it"'' against then-UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} Governor UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush.

To the frustration of Clinton and some of his loyalists, the Gore campaign, instead of attempting to leverage Clinton's popularity and the strong economy and running on the promise of a "third Clinton term," tried to distance itself from the Clinton administration, especially the Monica Lewinsky scandal and what some considered [[TheScapegoat a failure of oversight]] on Al's part. Gore began from an advantage, as Clinton's approval ratings were still high and the economy was weathering the dot-com bubble, while many saw Bush (son of [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush a former president]]) as little more than a brand name. That quickly changed over the course of the debates (''[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass "They misunderestimated me!"]]''), when Bush successfully took the initiative away from Gore on the issue of Social Security privatization. Bush alleged that S.S. would go bankrupt if left unchecked. While Gore initially refuted this claim, he finally blinked and rolled out the "lockbox" plan, an [[MissingStepsPlan opaque strategy]] to say the least. The lockbox was much-parodied and viewed by the electorate as a tacit admission that Bush was right. Unfortunately for Gore's camp, they fumbled the ball again by neglecting key battleground states -- including Gore's home turf of Tennessee -- which turned Republican despite the assumption that they were in Gore's pocket.

The endgame took place in UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}, whose 25 electoral votes proved decisive. Most television networks initially called the state for Gore on election night, retracted that call, called it for Bush several hours later and then retracted ''that'' call.[[note]]This disaster resulted in the networks completely changing how they called races, since there was some concern that the initial, incorrect call for Gore might have suppressed turnout in the more conservative Florida panhandle, which is in the ''Central'' Time Zone (while the rest of the state is in the Eastern one) and which had polls still open when the networks made their call.[[/note]] Gore, for his part, had called Bush to concede the presidential election, then called back and retracted the concession after it was clear Florida was too close to call. Florida officials spent '''over a month''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state. After a series of legal battles, culminating in a controversial ruling by the US Supreme Court when Bush's campaign sued Gore's, Bush carried the state by ''537'' votes[[note]]The previous closest race in a deciding state had UsefulNotes/SouthCarolina going for UsefulNotes/RutherfordBHayes by 889 votes in 1876.[[/note]] out of nearly six million cast statewide. While Florida became the focus of the legal battles, there were many states Gore could have won, such as his own home state of Tennessee; Clinton's home state, adjacent Arkansas; or even tiny New Hampshire (which Clinton had carried in 1992 and 1996[[note]]Previously, the Granite State hadn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in consecutive elections since UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt, who carried it in all but his first campaign in 1932.[[/note]] and where Gore lost by 7,211 votes), that would have made him president whatever the outcome in the Sunshine State. Gore lost the Electoral College vote by one of the narrowest margins in American history (just five votes out of 537[[note]]Barbara Lett Simmons of UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC, a Democratic elector pledged to him, abstained as a protest against the capital city having no voting representation in Congress.[[/note]]), but he did win the popular vote by 543,895 votes.

Much like his former running mate UsefulNotes/BillClinton, satirical depictions of Gore in popular culture have given him a surprisingly broad range of comedic personas over the course of his political career. When he was Vice President in [[TheNineties the 1990s]], they tended to portray him as an overly educated, monotonous-voiced StrawVulcan, with many {{Obligatory Joke}}s about him supposedly being "boring". During the 2000 presidential campaign, he was often portrayed as a serial exaggerator, if not an outright liar -- the "created the Internet" controversy was the most famous manifestation of this claim. After he left elected politics and became primarily known for speaking out about climate change in [[TurnOfTheMillennium the 2000s]], he was often humorously portrayed as a wild-eyed doomsayer ranting about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

The endgame took place in UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}, whose 25 electoral votes proved decisive. Most television networks initially called the state for Gore on election night, retracted that call, called it for Bush several hours later and then retracted ''that'' call.[[note]]This disaster resulted in the networks completely changing how they called races, since there was some concern that the initial, incorrect call for Gore might have suppressed turnout in the more conservative Florida panhandle, which is in the ''Central'' Time Zone (while the rest of the state is in the Eastern one) and which had polls still open when the networks made their call.[[/note]] Gore, for his part, had called Bush to concede the presidential election, then called back and retracted the concession after it was clear Florida was too close to call. Florida officials spent '''over a month''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state. After a series of legal battles, culminating in a controversial ruling by the US Supreme Court when Bush's campaign sued Gore's, Bush carried the state by ''537'' votes[[note]]The previous closest race in a deciding state had UsefulNotes/SouthCarolina going for UsefulNotes/RutherfordBHayes by 889 votes in 1876.[[/note]] out of nearly six million cast statewide ([[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment and that's all that needs to be said]]). While Florida became the focus of the legal battles, there were many states Gore could have won, such as his own home state of Tennessee; Clinton's home state, adjacent Arkansas; or even tiny New Hampshire (which Clinton had carried in 1992 and 1996[[note]]Previously, the Granite State hadn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in consecutive elections since UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt, who carried it in all but his first campaign in 1932.[[/note]] and where Gore lost by 7,211 votes), that would have made him president whatever the outcome in the Sunshine State. Gore lost the Electoral College vote by one of the narrowest margins in American history (just five votes out of 537[[note]]Barbara Lett Simmons of UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC, a Democratic elector pledged to him, abstained as a protest against the capital city having no voting representation in Congress.[[/note]]), but he did win the popular vote by 543,895 votes.

[[caption-width-right:350:He didn't invent the internet,\\

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) was the forty-fifth vice president of the United States, serving under the forty-second President, UsefulNotes/BillClinton, from 1993 to 2001. Before that, he served as U.S. Representative for the UsefulNotes/{{Nashville}} area (1977–1985) and then as UsefulNotes/{{Tennessee}}'s junior U.S. Senator (1985–1993). (He didn't have the same Senate seat that his father and namesake had before him.) After Clinton was term-limited out of office in 2000, Gore became the Democratic Party's nominee for President, running on a platform that one could sum up as ''"If it isn't broken..."'' against then-UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} Governor UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush.

To the frustration of Clinton and some of his loyalists, the Gore campaign, instead of attempting to leverage Clinton's popularity and the strong economy and running on the promise of a "third Clinton term," tried to distance itself from the Clinton Administration, especially the Monica Lewinsky scandal and what some considered [[TheScapegoat a failure of oversight]] on Al's part. Gore began from an advantage, as Clinton's approval ratings were still high and the economy was weathering the dot-com bubble, while many saw Bush (son of [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush a former president]]) as little more than a brand name. That quickly changed over the course of the debates (''[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass "They misunderestimated me!"]]''), when Bush successfully took the initiative away from Gore on the issue of Social Security privatization. Bush alleged that S.S. would go bankrupt if left unchecked. While Gore initially refuted this claim, he finally blinked and rolled out the "lockbox" plan, an [[MissingStepsPlan opaque strategy]] to say the least. The lockbox was much-parodied and viewed by the electorate as a tacit admission that Bush was right. Unfortunately for Gore's camp, they fumbled the ball again by neglecting key battleground states -- including Gore's home turf of Tennessee -- which turned Republican despite the assumption that they were in Gore's pocket.

The endgame took place in UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}, whose 25 electoral votes proved decisive. Television networks initially called the state for Gore on election night, retracted that call, called it for Bush several hours later and then retracted ''that'' call (this disaster resulted in the networks completely changing how they called races, since there was some concern that the initial, incorrect call for Gore might have suppressed turnout in the more conservative Florida panhandle, which is actually located in the Central Time Zone and was still voting when the networks made their call). Gore, for his part, had called Bush to concede the presidential election, then called back and retracted the concession after it was clear Florida was too close to call. Florida officials spent '''over a month''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state. After a series of legal battles, culminating in a controversial ruling by the US Supreme Court, Bush carried the state by ''537'' votes[[note]]The previous closest race in a deciding state had UsefulNotes/SouthCarolina going for UsefulNotes/RutherfordBHayes by 889 votes in 1876.[[/note]] out of nearly six million cast statewide ([[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment and that's all that needs to be said]]). While Florida became the focus of the legal battles, had Gore won his home state of Tennessee, or even tiny New Hampshire (which Clinton had carried in 1992 and 1996[[note]]Previously, the Granite State hadn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in consecutive elections since UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt, who carried it in all but his first campaign in 1932.[[/note]] and where Gore lost by 7,211 votes), he would have become President whatever the outcome in the Sunshine State. Gore lost the Electoral College vote by one of the narrowest margins in American history, but he did win the popular vote by 543,895 votes.

In 2006, he was parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' in which he insists on warning the residents of South Park about the existence of [=ManBearPig=] -- a "half man, half bear, and half pig!" The episode ends with Al Gore [[EngineeredHeroism attaching a cape to himself and pretending to fly off]]. Twelve years later, ''South Park'' aired what was essentially an apology episode where [=ManBearPig=] was proven to be very real and very deadly, though Gore himself is still portrayed as egotistical and prissy.

He also did voice work for ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' (his daughter Kristin was a writer on the show) in a series of amusing, self-deprecating appearances as himself. He founded, co-headed and appeared on the network Current TV until selling it in 2012 to UsefulNotes/{{Qatar}}-based news group Creator/AlJazeera.

What he actually said was, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system." He was referring to, among other things, a law he authored and pushed through that opened up ARPANET (precursor of today's Internet) to beyond the military and select universities. For what it's worth, Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn have agreed with his statement, and he ''can'' be credited with coining the term "Information Superhighway."

Much like his former running mate UsefulNotes/BillClinton, satirical depictions of Gore in popular culture have given him a surprisingly broad range of comedic personas over the course of his political career. When he was Vice President in [[TheNineties the 1990s]], they tended to portray him as an overly educated, monotonous-voiced StrawVulcan, with many {{Obligatory Joke}}s about him supposedly being "boring". During the 2000 presidential campaign, he was often portrayed as a serial exaggerator, if not an outright liar - the "created the internet" controversy was the most famous manifestation of this claim. Later, after he became primarily known for speaking out about climate change in [[TurnOfTheMillennium the 2000s]], he was often humorously portrayed as a wild-eyed doomsayer ranting about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) was the forty-fifth [[UsefulNotes/TheVicePresidents Vice President of the United States]], serving under the forty-second President, UsefulNotes/BillClinton, from 1993 to 2001. Before that, he served as U.S. Representative for the UsefulNotes/{{Nashville}} area (1977–1985) and then as UsefulNotes/{{Tennessee}}'s junior U.S. Senator (1985–1993). (He didn't have the same Senate seat that his father and namesake had before him.) After Clinton was term-limited out of office in 2000, Gore became the Democratic Party's nominee for President, running on a platform that one could sum up as ''"If it isn't broken..."'' against then-UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} Governor UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush.

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) was the forty-fifth Vice President of UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates, serving under the forty-second President, UsefulNotes/BillClinton, from 1993 to 2001. Before that, he served as U.S. Representative for the UsefulNotes/{{Nashville}} area (1977–1985) and then as UsefulNotes/{{Tennessee}}'s junior U.S. Senator (1985–1993). (He didn't have the same Senate seat that his father and namesake had before him.) After Clinton was term-limited out of office in 2000, Gore became the Democratic Party's nominee for President, running on a platform that one could sum up as ''"If it isn't broken..."'' against then-UsefulNotes/{{Texas}} Governor UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush.

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) was the forty-fifth Vice President of UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates, serving under the forty-second President, UsefulNotes/BillClinton, from 1993 to 2001. Before that, he served as U.S. Representative for the UsefulNotes/{{Nashville}} area (1977–1985) and then as UsefulNotes/{{Tennessee}}'s junior U.S. Senator (1985–1993). (He didn't have the same Senate seat that his father and namesake had before him.) After Clinton was term-limited out of office in 2000, Gore became the Democratic Party's nominee for President, running on a platform that one could sum up as ''"If it isn't broken..."'' against then-[[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]] Governor UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush.

'''Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr.''' (born March 31, 1948) was the forty-fifth Vice President of UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates, serving under the forty-second President, UsefulNotes/BillClinton, from 1993 to 2001. Before that, he served as U.S. Representative for the UsefulNotes/{{Nashville}} area (1977–1985) and then as UsefulNotes/{{Tennessee}}'s junior U.S. Senator (1985–1993). (He didn't have the same Senate seat that his father and namesake had before him.) After Clinton was term-limited out of office in 2000, Gore became the Democratic Party's nominee for President, running on a platform that one could sum up as ''"If it isn't broken..."'' against then-[[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]] Governor UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush.

To the frustration of Clinton and some of his loyalists, the Gore campaign, instead of attempting to leverage Clinton's popularity and the strong economy and running on the promise of a "third Clinton term," tried to distance itself from the Clinton Administration, especially the Monica Lewinsky scandal and what some considered [[TheScapegoat a failure of oversight]] on Al's part. Gore began from an advantage, as Clinton's approval ratings were still high and the economy was weathering the dot-com bubble, while many saw Bush (son of [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush a former president]]) as little more than a brand name. That quickly changed over the course of the debates (''[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass "They misunderestimated me!"]]''), when Bush successfully took the initiative away from Gore on the issue of Social Security privatization. Bush alleged that S.S. would go bankrupt if left unchecked. While Gore initially refuted this claim, he finally blinked and rolled out the "lockbox" plan, an [[MissingStepsPlan opaque strategy]] to say the least. The lockbox was much-parodied and viewed by the electorate as a tacit admission that Bush was right. Unfortunately for Gore's camp, they fumbled the ball again by neglecting key battleground states -- including Gore's home turf of Tennessee -- which turned Republican despite the assumption that [[DidntThinkThisThrough they were in Gore's pocket]].

Much like his former running mate UsefulNotes/BillClinton, satirical depictions of Gore in popular culture have given him a surprisingly broad range of comedic personas over the course of his political career. When he was Vice President in [[TheNineties the 1990s]], they tended to portray him as an overly educated, monotonous-voiced StrawVulcan, with many {{Obligatory Joke}}s about him supposedly being "boring". Later, after he became primarily known for speaking out about climate change in [[TurnOfTheMillennium the 2000s]], he was often humorously portrayed as a wild-eyed doomsayer ranting about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

The endgame took place in UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}, whose 25 electoral votes proved decisive. Television networks initially called the state for Gore on election night, retracted that call, called it for Bush several hours later and then retracted ''that'' call (Gore, for his part, had called Bush to concede the presidential election, then called back and retracted the concession after it was clear Florida was too close to call). Florida officials spent '''over a month''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state. After a series of legal battles, culminating in a controversial ruling by the US Supreme Court, Bush carried the state by ''537'' votes[[note]]The previous closest race in a deciding state had UsefulNotes/SouthCarolina going for UsefulNotes/RutherfordBHayes by 889 votes in 1876.[[/note]] out of nearly six million cast statewide ([[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment and that's all that needs to be said]]). While Florida became the focus of the legal battles, had Gore won his home state of Tennessee, or even tiny New Hampshire (which Clinton had carried in 1992 and 1996[[note]]Previously, the Granite State hadn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in consecutive elections since UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt, who carried it in all but his first campaign in 1932.[[/note]] and where Gore lost by 7,211 votes), he would have become President whatever the outcome in the Sunshine State. Gore lost the Electoral College vote by one of the narrowest margins in American history, but he did win the popular vote by 543,895 votes.

To the frustration of more than a few Clinton loyalists, the Gore campaign shifted from center-left to centrist in hopes of distancing him from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and what some considered [[TheScapegoat a failure of oversight]] on Al's part. Gore began from an advantage, as Clinton's approval ratings were still high and the economy was weathering the dot-com bubble, while many saw Bush (son of [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush a former president]]) as little more than a brand name. That quickly changed over the course of the debates (''[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass "They misunderestimated me!"]]''), when Bush successfully took the initiative away from Gore on the issue of Social Security privatization. Bush alleged that S.S. would go bankrupt if left unchecked. While Gore initially refuted this claim, he finally blinked and rolled out the "lockbox" plan, an [[MissingStepsPlan opaque strategy]] to say the least. The lockbox was much-parodied and viewed by the electorate as a tacit admission that Bush was right. Unfortunately for Gore's camp, they fumbled the ball again by neglecting key battleground states -- including Gore's home turf of Tennessee -- which turned Republican despite the assumption that [[DidntThinkThisThrough they were in Gore's pocket]].

The endgame took place in UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}, whose 25 electoral votes proved decisive. Television networks initially called the state for Gore on election night, retracted that call, called it for Bush several hours later and then retracted ''that'' call (Gore, for his part, had called Bush to concede the presidential election, then called back and retracted the concession after it was clear Florida was too close to call). Florida officials spent '''over a month''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state. After a series of legal battles, culminating in a controversial ruling by the US Supreme Court, Bush carried the state by ''537'' votes[[note]]The previous closest race in a deciding state had UsefulNotes/SouthCarolina going for UsefulNotes/RutherfordBHayes by 889 votes in 1876.[[/note]] out of nearly six million cast statewide ([[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment and that's all that needs to be said]]). While Florida became the focus of the legal battles, had Gore won his home state of Tennessee, or even tiny New Hampshire (which Clinton had carried in 1992 and 1996[[note]]Previously, the Granite State hadn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in consecutive elections since UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt, who carried it in all but his first campaign in 1932.[[/note]] and where Gore lost by 7,211 votes), he would have become President whatever the outcome in the Sunshine State. Despite not becoming President, 543,895 more Americans voted for Gore than for Bush.

'''Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr.''' (born March 31, 1948) was the Vice President of UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates under UsefulNotes/BillClinton from 1993 to 2001. Before that, he served as U.S. Representative for the UsefulNotes/{{Nashville}} area (1977–1985), and then as UsefulNotes/{{Tennessee}}'s junior U.S. Senator (1985–1993). After Clinton was term-limited out of office in 2000, Gore became the Democratic Party's nominee for President, running on a platform of ''"If it isn't broken..."'' against then-[[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]] Governor UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush.

To the frustration of more than a few Clinton loyalists, the Gore campaign shifted from center-left to centrist in hopes of distancing him from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and what some considered [[TheScapegoat a failure of oversight]] on Al's part. Gore began from an advantage, as Clinton's approval ratings were still good and the economy was weathering the dot-com bubble, while Bush was viewed as little more than a brand name. That quickly changed over the course of the debates (''[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass "They misunderestimated me!"]]''), when Bush successfully took the initiative away from Gore on the issue of Social Security privatization. Bush alleged that S.S. would go bankrupt if left unchecked. While Gore initially refuted this claim, he finally blinked and rolled out the "lockbox" plan, an [[MissingStepsPlan opaque strategy]] to say the least. The lockbox was much-parodied and viewed by the electorate as a tacit admission that Bush was right. Unfortunately for Gore's camp, they fumbled the ball again by neglecting key battleground states -- including Gore's home turf of Tennessee -- which turned Republican despite the assumption that [[DidntThinkThisThrough they were in Gore's pocket]].

The endgame took place in UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}, whose 25 electoral votes proved decisive. Television networks initially called the state for Gore on election night, retracted that call, called it for Bush several hours later and then retracted ''that'' call (Gore, for his part, had called Bush to concede the presidential election, then called back and retracted the concession after it was clear Florida was too close to call). Florida officials spent '''over a month''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state. After a series of legal battles, culminating in a controversial ruling by the US Supreme Court, Bush carried the state by ''537'' votes[[note]]The previous closest race in a deciding state had UsefulNotes/SouthCarolina going for UsefulNotes/RutherfordBHayes by 889 votes in 1876.[[/note]] out of nearly six million cast statewide ([[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment and that's all that needs to be said]]). While Florida became the focus of the legal battles, had Gore won his home state of Tennessee, or even tiny New Hampshire (which Clinton had carried in 1992 and 1996[[note]]Previously, the Granite State hadn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in consecutive elections since UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt, who carried it in all but his first campaign in 1932.[[/note]] and where Gore lost by 7,211 votes), he would have become President whatever the outcome in the Sunshine State. Despite not becoming President, Gore did beat Bush in the popular vote by 543,895 ballots nationwide.

but he wrote the [[IncrediblyLamePun alGORE]]ithm.]]

'''Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr.''' (March 31, 1948-) was the Vice President of UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates under UsefulNotes/BillClinton from 1993-2001. Before that, he served as U.S. Representative for the Nashville area (1977-1985), and then as Tennessee's junior U.S. Senator (1985-1993). After Clinton was term-limited out of office in 2000, Gore became his party's nominee for President, running on a platform of ''"If it ain't broke..."'' against then-Texas Governor UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush.

To the frustration of more than a few Clinton loyalists, the Gore campaign shifted from center-left to centrist in hopes of distancing him from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and what some considered [[TheScapegoat a failure of oversight]] on Al's part. Gore started out from an advantage, as Clinton's approval ratings were still good and the economy was weathering the dot-com bubble, while Bush was viewed as little more than a brand name. That quickly changed over the course of the debates (''[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass "They misunderestimated me!]]"''), when Bush successfully took the initiative away from Gore on the issue of Social Security privatization. Bush alleged that S.S. was going to go bankrupt if left unchecked. While Gore initially refuted this claim, he finally blinked and rolled out the "lockbox" plan, an [[MissingStepsPlan opaque strategy]] to say the least. The lockbox was much-parodied and viewed by the electorate as a tacit admission that Bush was right. Unfortunately for Gore's camp, they fumbled the ball again by neglecting key battleground states -- including Gore's home turf of Tennessee -- which turned Red in spite of the assumption that [[DidntThinkThisThrough they were in Gore's pocket]].

The endgame took place in Florida, whose 25 electoral votes proved decisive. Television networks initially called the state for Gore on election night, retracted that call, called it for Bush several hours later and then retracted ''that'' call (Gore, for his part, had called Bush to concede the presidential election, then called back and retracted the concession after it was clear Florida was too close to call). Florida officials spent '''two months''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state. After a series of legal battles, culminating in a controversial ruling by the US Supreme Court, Bush carried the state by ''537'' votes out of nearly six million cast statewide ([[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment and that's all that needs to be said]]). While Florida became the focus of the legal battles, had Gore won his home state of Tennessee, or even tiny New Hampshire (where he lost by about 7,000 votes), he would have won the presidency regardless of the outcome in the Sunshine State.

Gore was a famously stiff and uncharismatic politician, but after leaving office he became an unlikely entertainment star. Gore translated his lifetime interest in environmental issues into full-time activism - his work earned him a Nobel Prize and his documentary ''Film/AnInconvenientTruth'' won an Academy Award. There were also some concerns that he exaggerated the dangers on some issues (e.g. the "hockey stick" graph), but he generally got more right than wrong.

In 2006 he was parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' in which he insists on warning the residents of South Park about the existence of ManBearPig - a "half man, half bear, and half pig!" The episode ends with Al Gore [[EngineeredHeroism attaching a cape to himself and pretending to fly off]]. 12 years later, ''South Park'' aired what was essentially an apology episode where ManBearPig was proven to be very real and very deadly, though Gore himself is still portrayed as egotistical and prissy.

He also did voice work for ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' (his daughter Kristin was a writer on the show) in a series of amusing, self-deprecating appearances as himself. He founded, co-headed and appeared on the network Current TV until selling it in 2012 to Qatar-based news group Al-Jazeera.

Just for added strangeness, Gore was Creator/TommyLeeJones' roommate at Harvard. And according to author Erich Segal (who attended Harvard at the same time) the hero of his novel ''Literature/LoveStory'' [[CompositeCharacter was based on a fusion of the two of them]].

Much like his former running mate UsefulNotes/BillClinton, satirical depictions of Gore in popular culture have given him a surprisingly broad range of comedic personas over the course of his political career. When he was Vice President in [[TheNineties the 1990s]], they tended to portray him as an overly educated, monotonous-voiced StrawVulcan, with many an {{Obligatory Joke}} about him supposedly being "boring". Later, after he became primarily known for speaking out about climate change in [[TurnOfTheMillennium the 2000s]], he was often humorously portrayed as a wild-eyed doomsayer ranting about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

* AdamWesting: Mainly on ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}''. He also plays himself in a ''[[Series/TheWestWing West Wing]]'' sketch (along with Martin Sheen and the other regulars) on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': The cast and crew try to usher him out of the Oval Office set, but Al refuses to budge, pretending to ring up Putin on a prop phone.

The endgame took place in Florida, whose 25 electoral votes proved decisive. Florida officials spent '''two months''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state. After a series of legal battles, culminating in a controversial ruling by the US Supreme Court, Bush carried the state by ''537'' votes out of nearly six million cast statewide ([[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment and that's all that needs to be said]]). While Florida became the focus of the legal battles, had Gore won his home state of Tennessee, or even tiny New Hampshire (where he lost by about 7,000 votes), he would have won the presidency regardless of the outcome in the Sunshine State.

In 2006 he was parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' in which he insists on warning the residents of South Park about the existence of ManBearPig - a "half man, half bear, and half pig!" The episode ends with Al Gore [[EngineeredHeroism attaching a cape to himself and pretending to fly off]]. 12 years later, ''South Park'' aired what was essentially an apology episode where MeanBearPig was proven to be very real and very deadly, though Gore himself is still portrayed as egotistical and prissy.

In 2006 he was parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' in which he insists on warning the residents of South Park about the existence of MeanBearPig - a "half man, half bear, and half pig!" The episode ends with Al Gore [[EngineeredHeroism attaching a cape to himself and pretending to fly off]]. 12 years later, ''South Park'' aired what was essentially an apology episode where MeanBearPig was proven to be very real and very deadly, though Gore himself is still portrayed as egotistical and prissy.

The endgame took place in Florida, whose 25 electoral votes proved decisive. Florida officials spent '''two months''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state. After a series of legal battles, culminating in a controversial ruling by the US Supreme Court, Bush carried the state by ''537'' votes out of nearly six million cast statewide ([[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment and that's all that needs to be said]]). Had Gore not lost Tennessee, the votes gained in Florida would not have mattered.

The endgame took place in Florida, whose 25 electoral votes proved decisive. Florida officials spent '''two months''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state. After a series of legal battles, culminating in a controversial ruling by the US Supreme Court, Bush carried the states by ''537'' votes out of nearly six million cast statewide ([[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment and that's all that needs to be said]]). Had Gore not lost Tennessee, the votes gained in Florida would not have mattered.

The endgame took place in Florida, whose 25 electoral votes proved decisive. Florida officials spent '''two months''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state. After a series of legal battles, culminating in a controversial ruling by the US Supreme Court, Bush carried the states by ''537'' votes out of nearly six million cast statewide ([[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement and that's all that needs to be said]]). Had Gore not lost Tennessee, the votes gained in Florida would not have mattered.

After leaving office, Mr Gore became an environmental activist whose work, including the Oscar-winning documentary ''Film/AnInconvenientTruth'', earned him a Nobel Prize. There were also some concerns that he exaggerated the dangers on some issues (e.g. the "hockey stick" graph), but he generally got more right than wrong. Gore's film was lampooned in various forms of American media for his seemingly textbook liberal agenda. In 2006 he was parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' in which he insists on alarming the residents about the existence of a "half man, half bear, and half pig!" The episode ends with Al Gore [[EngineeredHeroism attaching a cape to himself and pretending to fly off]]. There was also some irony to be had with Bush's energy-efficient Crawford ranch, causing Gore's words to boomerang back onto his own lavish Nashville home.

He has also appeared multiple times on ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' and on Current TV, a network he founded and co-headed until selling it in 2012 to Qatar-based news group Al-Jazeera.

To the frustration of more than a few Clinton loyalists, the Gore campaign shifted from center-left to centrist in hopes of distancing him from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and what some considered [[TheScapegoat a failure of oversight]] on Al's part. Gore started out from an advantage, as Clinton's approval ratings were still good and the economy was weathering the dot-com bubble, while Bush was viewed as little more than a brand name. That quickly changed over the course of the debates (''[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass "They misunderestimated me!]]"''), when Bush successfully took the initiative away from Gore on the issue of Social Security privatization. Bush alleged that S.S. was going to go bankrupt if left unchecked. While Gore initially refuted this claim, he finally blinked and rolled out the "lockbox" plan, an [[MissingStepsPlan opaque strategy]] to say the least. The lockbox was much-parodied and viewed by the electorate as a tacit admission that Bush was right. Unfortunately for Gore's camp, they fumbled the ball again by neglecting key battleground states -- including Gore's home turf of Tennessee -- which turned Red in spite of the assumption that [[DidntThinkThisThrough they were in Gore's pocket]]. The endgame took place in Florida, where officials spent '''two months''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state; it was ''that'' tight, but Bush carried the election ([[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement and that's all that needs to be said]]). Had Gore not lost Tennessee, the votes gained in Florida would not have mattered.

but he wrote the alGOREithm.]]

To the frustration of more than a few Clinton loyalists, the Gore campaign shifted from center-left to centrist in hopes of distancing him from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and what some considered [[TheScapegoat a failure of oversight]] on Al's part. Gore started out from an advantage, as Clinton's approval ratings were still good and the economy was weathering the dot-com bubble, while Bush was viewed as little more than a brand name. That quickly changed over the course of the debates (''[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass "They misunderestimated me!]]"''), when Bush successfully took the initiative away from Gore on the issue of Social Security privatization. Bush alleged that S.S. was going to go bankrupt if left unchecked. While Gore initially refuted this claim, he finally blinked and rolled out the "lockbox" plan, an [[MissingStepsPlan opaque strategy]] to say the least. The lockbox was much-parodied and viewed by the electorate as a tacit admission that Bush was right. Unfortunately for Gore's camp, they fumbled the ball again by neglecting key battleground states -- including Gore's home turf of Tennessee -- which turned Red in spite of the assumption that [[DidntThinkThisThrough they were in Gore's pocket]]. The endgame took place in Florida, where officials spent '''two months''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state; it was ''that'' tight. Gore actually ended up winning more votes than by a very slight margin[[note]] half-a-million votes out of about 100 million cast, or .5%[[/note]], but Bush carried the election due to the way American presidential elections work ([[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement and that's all that needs to be said]]). Had Gore not lost Tennessee, the votes gained in Florida would not have mattered.

No, he did not invent the Internet. [[BeamMeUpScotty No, he didn't say he did.]] What he actually said was, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system." He was referring to, among other things, a law he authored and pushed through that opened up ARPANET (precursor of today's Internet) to beyond the military and select universities. For what it's worth, Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn have agreed with his statement, and he ''can'' be credited with coining the term "Information Superhighway."

No, he did not invent the Internet. No, he didn't say he did (see below).

Just for added strangeness, Gore was Creator/TommyLeeJones' roommate at Harvard. And according to author Erich Segal (who attended Harvard at the same time) the hero of his novel ''LoveStory'' [[CompositeCharacter was based on a fusion of the two of them]].

To the frustration of more than a few Clinton loyalists, the Gore campaign shifted from center-left to centrist in hopes of distancing him from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and what some considered a failure of oversight on Al's part.

Gore started out from an advantage, as Clinton's approval ratings were still good and the economy was weathering the dot-com bubble, while Bush was viewed as little more than a brand name. That quickly changed over the course of the debates (''[[Series/SaturdayNightLive "They misunderestimated me!]]"''), when Bush successfully took the initiative away from Gore on the issue of Social Security privatization. Bush alleged that S.S. was going to go bankrupt if left unchecked. While Gore initially refuted this claim, he finally blinked and rolled out the "lockbox" plan; an opaque strategy to say the least. The lockbox was much-parodied and viewed by the electorate as a tacit admission that Bush was right. Unfortunately for Gore's camp, they fumbled the ball again by neglecting key battleground states -- including Gore's home turf of Tennessee -- which turned Red in spite of the assumption that they were in Gore's pocket. The endgame took place in Florida, where officials spent '''two months''' counting and re-counting ballots to determine who won the state; it was ''that'' tight. Gore actually ended up winning more votes than by a very slight margin[[note]] half-a-million votes out of about 100 million cast, or .5%[[/note]], but Bush carried the election due to the way American presidential elections work ([[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement and that's all that needs to be said]]). Had Gore not lost Tennessee, the votes gained in Florida would not have mattered.

After leaving office, Mr Gore became an environmental activist whose work, including the Oscar-winning documentary ''Film/AnInconvenientTruth'', earned him a Nobel Prize. There were also some concerns that he exaggerated the dangers on some issues (e.g. the "hockey stick" graph), but he generally got more right than wrong. Gore's film was lampooned in various forms of American media for his seemingly textbook liberal agenda. There was also some irony to be had with Bush's energy-efficient Crawford ranch, causing Gore's words to boomerang back onto his own lavish Nashville home.

He is a fifth cousin of the late novelist Creator/GoreVidal, who was coincidentally one of his most scathing critics. Needless to say, meetings at the annual Gore family barbeque were few.

!!Al Gore in fiction:
* Al has gleefully [[AdamWesting mocked his own shortcomings]] ever since the 2000 election, mostly on ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}''.
* He also plays himself in a ''[[Series/TheWestWing West Wing]]'' sketch (along with Martin Sheen and the other regulars) on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': The cast and crew try to usher him out of the Oval Office set, but Al refuses to budge, pretending to ring up Putin on a prop phone.
** A frequent joke on SNL was the press' reaction to the indistinguishable campaigns of Bush and Gore. (Jim Leher gives up in the middle of moderating their debate to check the baseball scores.)
** In a different sketch, Gore and Bush hatch a plan to create ''the'' ultimate moderate candidate, blending their DNA together to create a Frankenstein's monster: [[TwoFaced Al W. Bushgore.]]
* In 2006 he was parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' in which he insists on alarming the residents about the existence of a "half man, half bear, and half pig!" The episode ends with Al Gore [[EngineeredHeroism attaching a cape to himself and pretending to fly off]].