Albert N. Gore Jr.
Sorry, not that Al Gore Jr. And not that Al Gore Jr.’s son, Al Gore III. It’s a completely different Al Gore Jr. — one who doesn’t look all that junior.
Albert N. Gore Jr. won the Democratic Senate primary in Mississippi on Tuesday, earning the right to be crushed by incumbent Republican Roger Wicker in November.
This Gore is a retired Methodist minister and Army colonel who completed 91 parachute jumps during a distinguished military career. “He declined to give his age, but said he’s in good health,” reports the Biloxi-Gulfport Sun Herald. The Wall Street Journal‘s Washington Wire blog describes him as “a political newcomer” and notes that he “doesn’t appear to have a campaign website.”
Is he related to the more famous Al Gore? Maybe, says the Sun Herald:
Jokes about the former U.S. vice president of the same first and last name running for the Senate in Mississippi were flying, but the Senate candidate said he believes he’s related to former President Bill Clinton’s vice president, though very distantly. He believes the former vice president’s family and his family parted ways sometime in the early 1800s. His ancestors settled in Mississippi, and the vice president’s in Tennessee, he said.
Calling genealogists! Where are those Mormons when you need them?
Gore the new Senate candidate is also worried about climate change. Here’s what he told the League of Women Voters of Mississippi:
Q: How can the United States become more energy independent?
A: First, we must really understand the natural resources we have and find better ways to make these resources generate energy. This country has a vast network of underground and surface water and all it would take would be one great disaster to ruin our water supply or halt navigation and transportation of goods and services. We need to explore solar and wind power to develop energy efficient buildings, vehicles and manufacturing plants. Petroleum and coal are not renewable resources. Neither is water due to climate change. As the earth becomes more arid, we need to find ways of creating energy that would supply our national needs and perhaps help replenish water and air.
Not bad, huh? Perhaps he deserves an endorsement from the Goracle himself.
