"You know the old saying: you win some, you lose some," Al Gore ruefuly told delegates at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. "And then there's that little-known third category." After being declared the winner of the state of Florida — and thus the election — over George W. Bush in 2000, Gore watched as the count seesawed back towards the Republicans and eventually end up at "too close to call." The fight for Florida's 25 disputed electoral votes went on through Dec. 13, when the United States Supreme Court declared the ongoing Florida recount unconstitutional and allowed the state to certify its vote in Bush's favor.
Gore faded from public view following the defeat, growing a beard (and gaining weight) while teaching at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. But he soon turned his attention to the environmental and technological interests that he had championed as a statesman — earning a slew of awards in the process. He starred in the 2006 film on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, which received glowing reviews and an Academy Award for best documentary. The following year, he won an Emmy for interactive television with his project, Current TV. And in late 2007, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to raise awareness about climate change. Though he would endorse Democrat Barack Obama in 2008 by saying, "Trust me, elections matter," it seems that Gore has rebounded since his bitterly disputed defeat in 2000.