Perfect Political Success...

for another movie star, Al Gore, might be to not be the top gun, but the supporting actor. So says Michael Grunwald. He believes that Gore ought to run in 2008...for Vice President. It sort of makes sense:

It is difficult to speculate about the politics of global warming without speculating about former vice president Al Gore. He says he's campaigning only against greenhouse gases these days, but as he basks in the success of his new movie, it's hard not to wonder whether the man who came so close to the presidency wants to take another shot.

But there's a more logical job for Gore to pursue, a job that doesn't make any sense until you think about it. It's a job that would give him the power to do something about global warming, along with other major issues close to his heart, without highlighting his political deficiencies. It's a job where it helps to be wonkish, and doesn't really hurt to be wooden. And it's a job he knows how to do -- because he already did it for eight years.

Yes, Al Gore should run for vice president.

Gore, Grunwald argues, would be playing to his strengths should he seek the vice presidency again. Yes, but he would automatically be a lightning rod on a national ticket.

This is just the sort of oddball, somewhat plausible, bit of speculation that occupies political writers during the presidential offseasons. (Although it's difficult to know when those offseasons are any more!)