A-Gore-ing Fans

• By Emily Heil and Anna Palmer
• Roll Call Staff
• Oct. 15, 2007, Midnight

Amid all the praise being heaped on newly minted Nobel laureate Al Gore are plenty of plaudits from his former colleagues on Capitol Hill, and HOH couldn’t help but notice that some of the gushing seemed a teensy bit self-involved. Like the lottery winner who suddenly realizes how many friends he has, Gore and his energy-efficient glow were attracting plenty of Hill-type baskers. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who’s known for never shying away from an opportunity at scoring some ink, sent a letter reminding readers that he was for Gore before being for Gore was cool. “While serving in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1980s, I remember a young, gutsy Congressman who criticized the Reagan administration for ignoring the effects of greenhouse gases,” says Schumer, sounding much like that guy in college who claimed he totally knew that Dave Matthews was going to be huge when he saw him play a garage party. “That Member of Congress was Al Gore, and today his perseverance has been recognized across the globe.”