Changing the Climate

If he had spoken that smoothly, that clearly while running for president...but that's the paradox that makes Gore so fascinating these days: The more he pushes away from politics, the more electable he looks — at least to some voters. Those 4,000 people at the screening he attended in L.A. last week, for instance — which was held in a vast open-air plaza downtown — weren't just there to watch An Inconvenient Truth on a wobbly outdoor screen or even to hear Bon Jovi and bandmate Richie Sambora (that would be Denise Richards' boyfriend) play a few tunes before the show. Judging from the deafening roar Gore got when he stepped to the stage, he's the reason they came out in such huge numbers that night.

''When we took Gore to Sundance and Cannes, people just went crazy around him,'' says Bender. ''It was really amazing. He doesn't sing or act, but he actually is kind of a rock star. He has this message that's drawing people to him, making him larger than life.''

Of course, Gore can always go back to being an ordinary presidential candidate — he hasn't completely sealed off that option. ''I do not expect to run for president again,'' he says, choosing his words carefully. ''But I haven't completely ruled out the possibility of running at some future time. I haven't given any Sherman-esque statements: 'If nominated I will not run, if elected I will not serve...''' Still, for now, he seems to be having more fun hanging around ticket counters than voting booths. ''There's a lot about politics, about having my hands on the levers of power, that I miss,'' he says. ''But there's also a lot about politics that I was never comfortable with. The whole backslapping part of it — I'm not very good at that.''

There are other advantages to Gore's new job that may keep him interested for a while. For starters, it has no term limit. Even after An Inconvenient Truth leaves theaters, he'll continue showing his slides and spreading his message. He's even working on a plan to franchise the slide show by training a thousand volunteers to give copies of his lecture. Think of it, an army of Al Gore clones fanning out across the nation, saving the planet one presentation at a time. Now, there's a movie.

And don't forget one other perk of Gore's new job: He gets to meet celebrities with even better bone structure than Boutros Boutros-Ghali's — like Denise Richards, whose hand he so historically clasped at the L.A. screening. ''Hollywood isn't very different from Washington, D.C., at least on the surface,'' Gore says. ''Human nature is the same in every line of work and in every geographic location. But Hollywood and Washington, they do seem to have a lot of outsized personalities. Maybe that's why I'm attracted to both.''