Al Gore won't just say 'no' to a presidential run - telling reporters he's a 'recovering politician' and likely won't 'relapse' 

  •  Al Gore continues to give the same canned response when asked if he still has presidential ambitions 
  • Some Democrats are arguing he would add a 'spark' to the race, especially if Jeb Bush becomes the Republican nominee 
  • A Bush v. Gore showdown would be the perfect 'vengeance' storyline, one supporter argued  

When Al Gore is asked if he's running for president, he now has a canned response. 

'I have overused the answer that I'm going to give you, but I'm going to use it anyway,' Gore said today at the Washington Ideas Forum taking place in downtown D.C. 'I am a recovering politician and the longer I go without a relapse the less likely one becomes.'

Gore, however, left himself a little wiggle room in case he fell off the wagon as his statement was missing a definitive 'no.'  

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NOT IT: Al Gore has a canned response now when asked if he's going to run for president: 'I am a recovering politician' he said today at the Washington Ideas Forum 

NOT IT: Al Gore has a canned response now when asked if he's going to run for president: 'I am a recovering politician' he said today at the Washington Ideas Forum 

Former Vice President Al Gore said he didn't expect to 'relapse' back into politics, but also didn't say no about launching a future presidential bid 

Former Vice President Al Gore said he didn't expect to 'relapse' back into politics, but also didn't say no about launching a future presidential bid 

Gore, in an interview with Fusion's Jorge Ramos, said essentially the same thing earlier this week. 

When Ramos asked Gore if he was considering a run, Gore had his line ready.  

'I'm a recovering politician,' Gore said. 'I've said that before but it's still true. And the longer I go without a relapse, the less likely there will be one.'

Ramos rephrased, trying to get Gore to give a yes or no. 

'Are you ruling out any possibility of running for president in this campaign?' Ramos asked. 

'No matter how you ask the question, I will give you the same answer. You are as skilled an interviewer as any person,' Gore replied. 

'I just wanted to know if you want to run for president again?' Ramos replied. 

'Yet a third way of asking the question. But the answer in the form of that saying "I’m a recovering politician," is really as close to the reality of my situation as I can tell you. I am not giving serious thought to that,' he replied. 

'I am grateful in some ways that people will ask the question, but I am enjoying what I am doing in my life right now. I am trying to affect the political system in this country and in other countries around the world and I’m enjoying that,' Gore continued. 

A Salon.com writer thought Gore was the best positioned Democrat to take the White House as Hillary Clinton's poll number sink, Joe Biden grieves and Bernie Sanders lacks widespread appeal 

A Salon.com writer thought Gore was the best positioned Democrat to take the White House as Hillary Clinton's poll number sink, Joe Biden grieves and Bernie Sanders lacks widespread appeal 

Vice President Joe Biden, Gore – Bill Clinton's vice president who won the popular vote in 2000, but lost to President George W. Bush thanks to the electoral college – is another dark horse Democrat some supporters are suggesting should jump into the race.

In July, Salon's Sean Illing wrote a piece urging Gore to run, giving 10 reasons why Gore would be a better bet for Democrats than Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. 

Illing called Clinton 'vulnerable,' and she's only become moreso as her polling numbers have taken a hit because of the ongoing email scandal. He said Sanders wasn't a candidate the entire Democratic party would rally around and he noted that Biden was still grieving over the loss of his son Beau. 

Meanwhile, Gore could provide a 'spark' since his political career 'seems a distant memory' at this point. Illing also pointed to a vengeance storyline. That is, if Jeb Bush – who's currently being trumped in the polls by political outsiders Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina – became the GOP nominee. 

Illing talked about the 2000 election and how George W. Bush won because of the state of Florida, where his brother, Jeb Bush, was governor. 'It would be a delightful bit of Karmic justice for [Jeb] to lose to the man he robbed 16 years prior,' Illing said of a Gore over Bush win.

Reminding audience members today of that Bush rivalry, Gore talked about some of the 'stupid decisions' Americans have made in recent years – starting with the Iraq war. 

'I mean, we invaded Iraq because three-quarters of us thought that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the World Trade Center,' the former vice president said. 'Hello?!' 

He outlined what he thought should be the goal of the next president and, of course, brought it back to the issue he's worked on since leaving politics: global warming. 

'We need an inspiring, collective, global, morally-based mission to create hundreds of millions of new jobs and we just happen to have such a mission,' he said, pointing to climate change. 

'And, as a byproduct, we can save the future of civilization.'  

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