Claim: Al Gore lost the electoral college to George Bush in the 2000 presidential election.

Albert Arnold Gore Jr. -LRB- born March 31 , 1948 -RRB- is an American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton . He was Clinton 's running mate in their successful campaign in 1992 , and was re-elected in 1996 . At the end of Clinton 's second term , Gore was picked as the Democratic nominee for the 2000 presidential election . After leaving office , Gore remained prominent as an author and environmental activist , whose work in climate change activism earned him -LRB- jointly with the IPCC -RRB- the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 .   Gore was an elected official for 24 years . He was a Congressman from Tennessee -LRB- 1977 -- 85 -RRB- and from 1985 to 1993 served as one of the state 's Senators . He served as Vice President during the Clinton administration from 1993 to 2001 . In the 2000 presidential election , in what was one of the closest presidential races in history , Gore won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College to Republican George W. Bush . A controversial election dispute over a vote recount in Florida was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court , which ruled 5 -- 4 in favor of Bush .   Gore is the founder and current chair of the Alliance for Climate Protection , the co-founder and chair of Generation Investment Management and the now-defunct Current TV network , a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc. , and a senior adviser to Google . Gore is also a partner in the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers , heading its climate change solutions group . He has served as a visiting professor at Middle Tennessee State University , Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism , Fisk University , and the University of California , Los Angeles . He served on the Board of Directors of World Resources Institute .   Gore has received a number of awards including the Nobel Peace Prize -LRB- joint award with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , 2007 -RRB- , a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album -LRB- 2009 -RRB- for his book An Inconvenient Truth , a Primetime Emmy Award for Current TV -LRB- 2007 -RRB- , and a Webby Award -LRB- 2005 -RRB- . Gore was also the subject of the Academy Award-winning -LRB- 2007 -RRB- documentary An Inconvenient Truth in 2006 . In 2007 , he was named a runner-up for Time 2007 Person of the Year .