Whether he says he is doesn't seem to matter at the moment. His movie about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, is doing well, and an appearance on SNL last weekend has boosted his popularity again with Democrats. The Dems are starting to eye him like a juicy piece of steak.
A poll released this week by National Journal, a Washington magazine, showed Mr Gore moving into fourth place when Democratic "insiders" were asked who had the best chance of winning the party's 2008 presidential nomination -- up from ninth place in December.
Mr Gore insists he has "no plans" to run again and that he is committed to his campaign to protect the planet.
But for some Democrats he represents a viable alternative to Hillary Clinton, the 2008 frontrunner, who they fear is too polarising a figure to be elected president. With a network of activist supporters and financial backers and an aura of celebrity, he is one of the few politicians who could enter the race late in the game and be able to wage a national campaign.
In the film and a series of high-profile speeches organised by MoveOn.org, the grassroots political group, Mr Gore has been passionate and at ease with himself, in sharp contrast to the often stilted candidate he was when he ran against George W. Bush in 2000.
With Mr Bush at record lows in public opinion polls -- his standing damaged by the war in Iraq and problems at home -- Mr Gore's backers invoke what they see as a legitimate claim he holds on the office, after winning the popular vote in 2000.
"The buzz around Gore is only going to grow stronger as voters are hungry for change. They want someone with stature, experience and a passion for public service," said Donna Brazile, manager of Mr Gore's 2000 campaign.
Mr Gore seems to recognise that, for some people, watching him speak is a painful reminder of the 2000 campaign and the Supreme Court's role in deciding the outcome. At the start of An Inconvenient Truth, he tries to defuse that tension, declaring, "I'm Al Gore and I used to be the next president of the United States of America."
He went a step further during an appearance last week on Saturday Night Live, the late-night comedy programme, addressing the nation from a mock Oval Office as if he had been president for the past six years.
In that alternative universe, the US was so loved by the rest of the world, "American tourists can't even go to Europe any more without getting hugged", Mr Gore said. His administration's actions against global warming were working so well that "glaciers that were once melting are now on attack". A confident President Gore tells the nation: "I assure you we will not let the glaciers win."
The focus of the film is a multi-media slide show on climate change that Mr Gore has been giving for years. In it, he presents compelling evidence that the glaciers have in fact been losing, in large measure because of US politicians' failure to act.
As Bill Clinton's vice-president, Mr Gore helped negotiate the Kyoto treaty on climate change, but Mr Bush refused to sign it.
"It's just human nature to take time to connect the dots," he tells a captivated audience, but "there can be a day of reckoning, when you wished you'd connected the dots more quickly".
On screen, Mr Gore -- derisively dubbed "Ozone Man" by the first President Bush -- is part environmental evangelist, part stand-up comic. A hit at this year's Sundance festival, the film shows him tapping on his laptop, pulling his luggage through airports, delivering his message.
"That was a hard blow," he says of the 2000 defeat. "But what do you do? You make the most of it."
Mr Gore's message is stark. "We are witnessing a collision between our civilisation and the Earth," he says, and he set himself a goal to communicate this point as clearly as possible. "The only way I know to do it is city by city, person by person, family by family." That sounds a lot like a political campaign.
Peter Knight, a long-time adviser to Mr Gore who is now a partner with him at Generation Investment Management, says his old friend is trying to make a difference. "I think what he's doing now is what he really loves doing."
So...is the US ready for another run by Gore?
Tags: [Al Gore], [An Inconvenient Truth], [another run for the presidency for Al Gore?], [Gore in 2008?], [are Dems truly ready for Gore?]
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