Al Gore

• Vice President to:      Bill Clinton - Democrat, from Arkansas
  
  
  • Bill Clinton served from 1993 - 2001. He is 61, as of May, 2008.
    
    
• Dates Served: Gore served as Vice President from 1993 - 2001.
  
• Political Party: Democrat, from Tennessee.
  
• Born: 1948.
  
• Age: Gore is 60, as of May, 2008.
  
• The presidential opponents during the 1992 and 1996 campaigns were:
  
  
  • 1992 - George Bush - Republican - Incumbant President
    
    
  • 1992 - Ross Perot - Independent - Texas billionaire
    
    
  • 1996 - Bob Dole - Republican - Kansas Senator
    
    
  • 1996 - Ross Perot - Independent - Texas billionaire
    
    
  • 1996 - Ralph Nader - Green Party - Consumer Advocate from Connecticut
    
    
• Campaign issues:
  
  
  • During the 1992 campaign:
    
    
    • This year the issue was the economy, and Bush's anaemic response to it. Bush was skilled at, and preferred, foreign policy. He reached the pinnacle of his approval rating during the Gulf War, but as the Recession deepened back home so did his popularity. This created a ready-made issue for the Democrats to latch on to. They ran Clinton as their candidate who used many of the same arguments that Reagan had made against Carter, comparing Americans' current economic situation with that of 4 years ago. For added drama, the witty Texas Billionaire Ross Perot entered the race with initially high ratings. A few debates later, and after some erratic behavior by Perot, Clinton had a clean run to the White House by virtue of Bush apparently ignoring the Recession. The unofficial Democratic campaign slogan, "It's the Economy, Stupid" said it all. Bush waved the flag and brought up Abortion and rumors about Clinton's wandering eye, but Bush consistently missed the issue that was right in front of him: when voters are out of work they don't tend to re-elect the incumbent. They voted for Clinton by a comfortable margin. But the country hadn't seen the end of Bush just yet.
      
      
  • During the 1996 campaign:
    
    
    • This year there was no issue. The economy was doing well and Americans were employed again. Dole tried to argue that the economy really wasn't good, and he tried to get some bites on the issue of Clinton's character, but it was a lack-luster campaign. Perot showed up again but was kept away from the debates, to his loud protests. Ralph Nader also ran as the token far-Left candidate, but the election was Clinton's who won with a nice margin of votes.
      
      
  
  
• Notable Facts about Al Gore:
  
  
  • Al Gore is the son of Albert Gore Sr., US House Representative and Senator from Tennessee.
    
    
  • Religious affiliation: Al Gore is a member of the New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Carthage, Tennessee. Most of Gore's public statements about his religious beliefs have been in the context of his Environmentalist activism. For example, in his book "Earth in Balance" Gore says the following:
    
    
    "For some Christians, the prophetic vision of the Apocalypse is used - in my view, unforgivably - as an excuse for abdicating their responsibility to be good stewards of God's creation.... My own faith is rooted in the unshakeable belief in God as creator and sustainer, a deeply personal interpretation of and relationship with Christ, and an awareness of a constant and holy spiritual presence in all people, all life, and all things."
    
    
    Gore's religious statements stand in contrast to many statements from his fellow-Christians in the Religious Right who tend to support the Republican Party. Gore is often as expressive of his religious faith as they are, but his emphasis tends to be on traditionally "liberal" issues like the Environment and social justice, as opposed to traditionally "conservative" issues like Abortion and sexual morality. Some of his comments concerning his religious beliefs have aliented his more conservative bretheren, such as this one during a speech in 1994:
    
    
    "Like Jefferson, I believe that God is too powerful and mysterious to be contained within the rigid orthodoxy of any religious faith."
    
    
  • Al attended Harvard and during his time there his roommate was the future actor Tommy Lee Jones. One of them went on to get a real job.
    
    
  • While a student at Harvard in the late 60's, Gore wrote his thesis in Government on "The Impact of Television on the Conduct of the Presidency, 1947 - 1969".
    
    
  • Initially opposed to the war in Vietnam, Gore enlisted in the Army after graduating, partly in hopes of shoring up his father's troubled anti-Vietnam-themed re-election campaign for the Senate. (By enlisting he would diffuse opponents' claims that his family was unpatriotic). His father still lost the race. Gore spent a tour in Vietnam as a reporter with an Army Corps of Engineers unit.
    
    
  • After returning from Vietnam he spent 3 years as a journalist for the "Nashville Tennessean", from 1973 - 1976.
    
    
  • In 1976 Al was elected to the US House of Representatives, representing Tennessee from 1976 - 1993. In 1984 he was elected to the US Senate, representing Tennessee for 4 years, during which time he developing a consistent voting record in support of Environmental issues and liberal social issues.
    
    
  • In the mid 80's Al's wife, Tipper, waged a censorship campaign against the recording industry, arguing for warning labels on records that contain explicit language. In 1987 she wrote a book, "Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society". Many musicians, from John Denver to Frank Zappa, spoke out against her campaign on the floor of Congress.
    
    
  • In 1988 he ran for the Democratic nomination for President, but lost out to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis.
    
    
  • In 1990 Gore was one of only 10 Democratic Senators to vote in support of using military force to oust Iraq from Kuwait, with most of his colleagues opposing it.
    
    
  • In 1991 Al wrote a book, "Earth in Balance" describing his views on the importance of Environmental preservation on a global scale.
    
    
  • In 1992 Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton chose Al Gore as his running mate, due to his agreement with much of Clinton's agenda. Gore had been considering running for President himself, but he decided not to, partly because his son had recently been hit by a car and had almost died, and was slowly recovering.
    
    
  • During his term as Vice President Gore spent a lot of his time lobbying for Environmental legislation and liberal social issues. Previously, when he was a Senator, he had served on several committees overseeing a project known as NREN (National Research & Education Network) which managed the evolution of the Dept. of Defense's ARPANET, later to be known as the Internet. Due to his seat on the committee Gore would periodically claim to having invented the Internet, much to the amusement of his detractors.
    
    
  • Al wrote another book while serving as VP, "Access America: Reengineering Through Information Technology", in 1997.
    
    
  • In 2000 the Democratic Party nominated Al as their candidate in the Presidential campaign. He ran against Texas Governor George W. Bush, son of ex-Vice President George Bush. On election day Gore narrowly won the popular vote, but as a result of a flurry of legal filings by armies of lawyers he ended up loosing the Electoral vote. Bush's lead in Florida's districts was thinner than a follicle of hair on a termite's eyebrow, but the US Supreme Court decided that it was enough to hand him that state's Electoral votes. (After the dust settled, the official count of popular votes in Florida was 50,158,094 for Al and 49,820,518 for George). Gore bowed out of the race and George became the second son-of-a-President to be sworn in to office, and the first president in over 100 years to loose the popular election but become President anyway.
    
    
  • Al Gore and Ralph Nader are not exactly best buddies, since Nader's far-Left campaign on the Environmentalist Green Party siphoned off enough Gore supporters to cost him the election. Had Ralph dropped out of the race, enough of his supporters would likely have punched out chads for Al, but he didn't and he later expressed pride at having upset the status quo. Due to his refusal to bow out Al had to go look for another job.
    
    
  • In the months following his defeat Gore grew a beard. A website was even created, devoted to analyzing the beard of Al.
    
    
  • In March of 2002, Al shaved off his beard.
    
    
  • On December 15, 2002, after months of hitting the talk-show circuit and selling a few new books, Al announced he wouldn't run for President in 2004, arguing that another Bush vs. Gore race would be "distracted by the past" instead of looking towards the future. The sound of hoofbeats could be heard as other Democrat contenders raced for the spotlight.
    
    
  • On June 2nd, 2006 Al Gore became a movie star, just like his former college room-mate Tommy Lee Jones. The movie "An Inconvenient Truth" was released, which was a documentary about Gore's life-long devotion to Environmentalism. It showed him on the lecture circuit and contained interviews with him, all devoted to the warning that human activities were contributing to an unnatural rise in global warming, and corresponding natural disasters. His good buddy George W. Bush, not known for his interest in the subject, most likely didn't go see it.
    
    
  • On Feb. 25, 2007, Al became the first Veep to ever win an Academy Award. He won an Oscar for his film, as Best Documentary of the year, demonstrating that the office of Vice President is a good stepping-stone to other, greater achievements. However, he repeated his claim that he had no intention of re-entering politics, "at this time".
    
    His former room-mate Tommy Lee Jones already had an Oscar, winning one in 1993 for best supporting-actor in the film "The Fugitive". Apparently careers in Hollywood and Washington DC are both simply different forms of acting.
    
    
  • 2007 was a good year for Al. Less than 7 months after winning a mere Oscar, he finally won an award his former room-mate Tommy Lee Jones never got - a Nobel Peace Prize. On October 12th, 2007, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Al for his work in publicizing global warming issues. The White House said it was "happy for him", but didn't actually congratulate him. George was probably jealous...
    
    

Notable Events during his Vice Presidency:

• Shortly after taking office, on June 26 of 1993, Clinton ordered the US Navy to fire a cruise missile on Baghdad, Iraq, destroying an office building. It was "a message to Saddam" who had sent hitmen to Kuwait to try and kill ex-President Bush, who had recently visited there. The hitmen were captured in Kuwait and the missile was Saddam's slap on the wrist.
  
  
• During Clinton's administration the US Economy soared to heights unseen for the previous 30 years, with unemployment plummeting, inflation a thing of the past, and interest rates kept steady. The budget deficit, which had soared to record heights under Reagan, was eliminated under Clinton and turned into a surplus, the first budget surplus since the 1960's. Around 250,000 government jobs were eliminated as part of Al Gore's "re-inventing government" program to reduce the size of the Federal government. US exports climbed and Wall Street plowed through the longest Bull Market in US history. And all this despite Clinton having raised taxes shortly after taking office and his opponents predicting economic doom.
  
  
• In January of 1993 Clinton named his wife, Hillary Rodam Clinton, to head a task force on Health Care reform. The task force recommended the creation of a Federal health care system, modelled on those used in many European countries, but the proposal was soundly defeated by Congress the following year, and Mrs. Clinton was repeatedly criticized for promoting a suspiciously Socialist-sounding idea.
  
  
• The first of many Special Councils are created by Congress to investigate various scandals in the Clinton administration, beginning with the firing of employees in the White House Travel Office in July, 1993.
  
  
• In July of 1993 Clinton orders his "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of allowing homosexuals to serve in the US military without being discharged. It doesn't prevent several high-profile cases of discharges from the military anyway.
  
  
• NAFTA, the North American Free trade Agreement, is passed on December 8, 1993. It will eliminate most tariffs on products exported between Canada, the US, and Mexico over the next 15 years.
  
  
• January 6, 1994, a Special Council is created to investigate shady Real Estate dealings that Clinton may have been involved with back in the 1970's, through a company he was part of called Whitewater. The Special Council is called by a member of his own party, Democratic Senator Patrick Moynihan. Clinton quickly requests a Special Prosecutor be named to head the investigation, ultimately leading to his close friendship with Ken Starr.
  
  
• Embargo on Vietnam lifted, in January, 1994, which had been in place since the war. Relations with Vietnam are normalized the following year.
  
  
• Paula Jones. On May 6, 1993 Paula Jones files a Federal lawsuit against the President charging him with sexual harrasment back in 1991, prior to being President. She is strongly supported by members of the Far Right. When Clinton settles out of court for $850,000 five years later she claims that she has suddenly been abandoned by her Far Right allies since she's "no longer of use to them", and that all her money has gone to pay her attorneys. She therefore decides to pose nude for Playboy the following year, "just for the money" she claims. Then, to top that, in 2002 she began a career as a professional boxer, fighting Tanya Harding on national television. (She lost). America eagerly awaits her next career-move.
  
  
• September 12, 1994 a man named Eugene Corder commits suicide by crashing his small private plane into the White House lawn.
  
  
• April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parks a van outside of a federal building in Oklahoma City which explodes minutes later, killing 168 people, including children in a Day Care center. It is the worst case of terrorism ever on US soil up to that date, and sets a record for mass murder by one man in America. He claims to have acted out of disapproval over the FBI's handling of the Waco cult standoff in Texas two years earlier. He is tried, sentenced to death, and executed on June 11, 2001.
  
  
• November, 1995, Ken Starr expands his probe into Clinton's Real Estate dealings and begins probing his sexual habits. He tells the Press about a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky, who he reveals recently had a series of illicit encounters with the President. Congress and the White House quickly transform themselves into the Jerry Springer Show.
  
  
• September, 1996, Clinton orders a few more missiles fired on Baghdad after Saddam attacks a Kurdish city in northern Iraq.
  
  
• February, 1996, Ken Starr gets an offer to teach at a University and tries to resign his post as Special Prosecutor. But the Far Right in the Republican party pounce all over him and he has a change of heart. It ain't over till it's over.
  
  
• March 24, 1998 the US begins dropping lots of bombs on Serbia to persuade the Serbian president to stop invading Kosovo. He gives in 3 months later and the UN moves in.
  
  
• The Harlem Globetrotters play their 20,000th game on January 12, 1998.
  
  
• The king of the one-liners, Henny Youngman, dies on Feb. 24, 1998.
  
  
• Final episode of "Seinfeld" airs, on May 14, 1998.
  
  
• August, 1998, US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya are bombed. Clinton orders cruise missles fired into Sudan and Afghanistan.
  
  
• September 11, 1998, Ken Starr releases his X-rated report on Clinton's Real Estate dealings in the 1970's. The cost to US tax-payers, over $50 million, becoming the most expensive pornography ever printed. The House of Representatives decides that Clinton's waffling answers about his sex life are cause for impeachment due to obstruction of justice.
  
  
• October 8, 1998, the House impeaches Clinton, becoming only the second US President to receive the honor, after President Andrew Johnson did 130 years earlier.
  
  
• The International Space Station begins construction in space, on Nov 20, 1998.
  
  
• December 16, 1998, the US drops some more bombs on Iraq, due to Saddam yanking at his leash.
  
  
• February 12, 1999, the Senate acquits Clinton of the impeachment charges.