What does a man who’s won, not only the Nobel peace prize, but—far more impressive—an Oscar, do for an encore?

Al Gore could merely rest on the very considerable laurels he’s earned as Bill Clinton’s two-term Vice-President, and in the cause of promoting global warming (ooops–that is, promoting the news about global warming). But this man feels the continuing need to serve his country and the world (and not as a waiter, either, although he would look good in the outfit).

Yesterday I noted widespread speculation that he just might be about to step in to break the impasse that’s tearing the Democratic Party apart, and finally offer a true People’s Choice for President: himself. After all, we know that he really won in 2000, and that it was only his extreme politeness that caused him to defer to George Bush in the post-election brouhaha.

The rest, as they say, is history. Al Gore has learned his lesson: no more Mr. Nice Guy, he says.

And so today Mr. Gore has rejected his role as savior of the Party, ignoring all the pleas from distraught Democrats. He has a higher calling.

At a news conference this very morning, Gore dropped the shocking bombshell that he is running for the Vice Presidency. Again. But not with Hillary Clinton, which would have been a historical first: the same person as Veep to both husband and wife.

Constitutional scholars raced to their rulebooks to check whether a third Vice-Presidential term would be possible, and their answer was a resounding, “Yes—although no one ever envisioned that anyone in his/her right mind would want to do such a thing.”

Hand in hand with the head of the ticket, Ralph Nader, Gore announced that the two are burying the hatchet from 2000, the year in which Nader’s entry into the race as the Green Party nominee was widely perceived to have taken sorely needed votes away from Gore. Gore says the beginning of their rapprochement occurred when Nader stated, in a live interview with DemocrayNow’s Amy Goodman, that he believes Al Gore actually won the presidency that year but that it was “stolen from him … by the [Florida] Secretary of State and Jeb Bush” and the US Supreme Court.”

Gore most definitely concurs. So now they are uniting for a greater cause, saving the planet.

I couldn’t find any photos of their joint press conference—which was notable for the fact that Ralph Nader actually smiled for the first time in his adult life—but I managed to find this artist’s rendering of the historic event:

At the press conference, Gore dropped another bombshell—as if one weren’t enough. He said that the cause he and Nader will fight to promote awareness of is that of global cooling.

Yes, folks, you heard right. Gore is a man who keeps up with not only the Times but the times. The latest evidence that global cooling may be the new trend has convinced him that this is real, and that something must be done about it:

Now there is word that all four major global temperature tracking outlets have released data showing that temperatures have dropped significantly over the last year. California meteorologist Anthony Watts says the amount of cooling ranges from 65-hundredths of a degree Centigrade to 75-hundreds of a degree.

Some scientists contend the cooling is the result of reduced solar activity ”” which they say is a larger driver of climate change than man-made greenhouse gases.

If in fact this climate change is driven by solar activity, Gore and Nader admitted they would be hard-pressed to find a solution. “But we cannot ignore this truth,” said Gore to great applause, “even though it might be inconvenient.”

The two suggested that, if they are elected to the highest offices in the land, they will find a solution, somehow. They ended their press conference with a sly dig at their opponent, Senator Obama:

“And he thinks he’s the candidate for change?” they chorused in unison. “Well, Obama, think again!”