I'VE WON THE NOBEL PRIZE ; ...and Now for the White House

Oct 13, 04:20 AM

Current Headlines: By Anton Antonowicz

FORMER American vice-president Al Gore yesterday won the Nobel Peace Prize for helping publicise climate change.

He was named joint winner, adding the prestigious award to the Oscar he won in February for his environmental film An Inconvenient Truth.

The news immediately sparked speculation that he will enter the 2008 presidential race.

And although his spokeswoman has stated he won't run for election again, Gore himself yesterday said only how "deeply honoured" he was to win the prize.

He added that he would donate half the pounds 750,000 prize money to the Alliance for Climate Protection.

The 59-year-old, who was Bill Clinton's number two in the White House from 1993 to 2001, jointly received the prize with the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The Nobel committee's citation read: "He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted."

Gore's film, which cost pounds 500,000 to make and has raked in pounds 25million, has been credited for pushing climate change up the political agenda across the globe since its release last year.

However, earlier this week, a High Court judge ruled the film could be shown in British schools if pupils were made of aware of nine "scientific errors".

Despite the setback, a group called draftgore.com placed a full- page advert in The New York Times on Wednesday urging him to stand for president.

Monica Friedlander, founder of the website, said it would now "be very difficult for him to say no" to entering the presidential contest.

She added: "He's in a position to make a big difference."

But his former aide Julia Payne said he was more likely to talk "light bulbs, not politics".

Gore's spokeswoman Kalee Kreider recently said: "He has no intentions of running for president in 2008."

Former US president Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize five years ago.

He revealed he keeps calling Gore to urge him to stand again, adding: "He finally told me the last time, 'president Carter, please do not call me.'"

(c) 2007 Daily Record; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.