The Former Vice President Al Gore, “I Will Not Run for President for Next Term.”

The former Vice President Al Gore, who lost to the President George W. Bush at the 2000 US Presidential Election in a close campaign, unexpectedly announced on the 15th not to run for the President next term.

The former Vice President Al Gore appeared in the `60 Minutes` of the CBS that day and said, “I decided not to be a Presidential Candidate in 2004,” and “I do not think it is right for me to be a Candidate.”

He said, “I personally have the energy, impulse, and ambition to do another campaign; however, the campaign, which will be a return match with the President Bush, should unavoidably focus on past issues, so it will be out of the fundamental of the election, which must be future oriented.” He also said about the 2008 Presidential Election, “I do not have a plan for future election.”

The former Vice President Gore, which was the Democratic Candidate for the 2000 Presidential Election, got 543,895 more votes than the President Bush, which was the Republican Candidate, but lost the election because he lost the Electoral College votes.

At that time, the former Vice President Gore had a fight in the court for the first time in the history of the US Presidential Election for a month about the issue of hand-count of votes in Florida, which could decide the Election; however, the Federal Court finally raised the hand of the Candidate Bush.

Ki-Heung Han eligius@donga.com