Nobel Peace Prize recipient Al Gore and President George W. Bush met privately for the first time since 2000 in the Oval Office today, the office Gore would have occupied should the presidential election in 2000 have been determined by America's popular vote and not by a Supreme Court decision that stopped the recount in Florida.
The AP reports: “The two men stood next to other, sharing uncomfortable grins for photographers and reporters, who were quickly ushered in and out. ‘Familiar faces,' the former vice president said of the media. Bush, still smiling, added nothing. The two also had a 40-minute meeting in the Oval Office, part of Bush's effort to show some outreach to his longtime rival. Bush aides said it was private and would not comment on it. Gore, trailed by the press as he left the White House very publicly on foot, allowed that he and Bush spent the whole time talking about global warming. ‘He was very gracious in setting up the meeting and it was a very good and substantive conversation, Gore said. And that's all I want to say about it.'”
