The rumour on the street is that Al Gore will declare himself an independent candidate for President this week. Whether or not that is true, he has unveiled a new $300m advertising blitz intended to force a debate on climate change during the presidential elections.
The Nobel laureate, who appeared with his wife, Tipper, on the CBS programme 60 Minutes to roll out the effort, is to donate a share of his personal fortune to the campaign.
“We all share the exact same interest in doing the right thing on this,” he told CBS. “Are we destined to destroy this place that we call home, planet earth? I can’t believe that that’s our destiny. It is not our destiny. But we have to awaken to the moral duty that we have to do the right thing and get out of this silly political game-playing about it. This is about survival.”
The first television advertisements which will appear today show Reverend Al Sharpton sharing a sofa with the conservative preacher Pat Robertson. The two men acknowledge they agree on almost nothing – barring the need to deal with global warming.
Other spots will feature the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, alongside New Gingrich, the conservative Republican who once held the same post.
So climate change makes some strange bedfellows. But Gore running for President with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as his running mate? We will have to see …