Gore was a wooden speaker when he ran against George Bush, and it likely cost him the presidency.

Years later, I saw him present his "Inconvenient Truth" slide show in front of 10,000 people at Portland's Rose Garden Arena. Clearly, he'd spent considerable post-campaign time learning to be an effective speaker -- he was funny, charming, well-organized and passionate. 

If only we'd had THAT Al Gore in 2000...

If only