The following is an excerpt from our June issue:

By Jonathan Lindberg

Remember when Al Gore was a punch line? It wasn’t that long ago.

Eight years back we laughed together when we discovered Al Gore still kissed his wife with passion. Could anything have been more awkward? Seven years later and that same Al Gore is now sharing the stage with Leonardo DeCaprio and Cameron Diaz. He is holding Oscar and joking with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.

Somewhere along the way Al Gore became cool. Quite a transformation, to say the least. Maybe as dramatic as Richard Nixon learning to smile in 1968.

Of course not every step has been smooth. Gore did grow a beard for a while. And there was that bitter speech concerning ‘this president’ for Moveon.org. Still, over the past eight years, no political figure has made greater strides from the bottom to the top than Al Gore. (more…)