AT the flick of an energy-saving switch, Al Gore will be able to mount a formidable presidential campaign this autumn should he decide to run, according to former close aides.

“He would have a very substantial organisation very quickly,” said Elaine Kamarck, a former senior policy adviser. “He would have all the people who have been with him in the past and all those who have become involved in his work on climate change.”

All the features of a stealth campaign are in place. Gore is receiving rock star treatment and chants of “Run, Al, run,” on a coast-to-coast tour of The Assault on Reason, his new book attacking the “politics of fear” of the George W Bush era, while 1,000 trained volunteers are promoting his slide show about global warming in schools and meeting rooms. In July his Live Earth concerts will give him a global audience from New York to London and Shanghai.

Kamarck believes Gore will have to make up his mind to stand by October in order to contest the primaries. “I would love him to run again, but when I tell him that, he just laughs,” she said. “He is keeping his own counsel.”

Lise van Susteren, a forensic psychiatrist, is one of Gore’s army of slide show volunteers. She told the former Democratic vice-president at her training session that he was a “hero” and should stand. When she last saw him she noticed “he was definitely losing weight”.

Donna Brazile, another former aide, has predicted that if Gore wins the battle of the bulge, he is running.

The slide show volunteers limit their talks to environmental issues, but many are ready and waiting should the “Goracle” issue a call to arms. “We have 1,000 people on the ground, so we have the power to spread out,” van Susteren said, speaking in a personal capacity.

“We’re hoping he will stand because we believe his impact on the global stage will be critical.

We’re awed by his intelligence, his kindness, his experience and his stature in the world.”

Former advisers such as Brazile have kept their distance from rival campaigns so they can spring to Gore’s side if need be. However, she is known to admire Barack Obama for his inspirational leadership. Many Gore supporters believe the former vice-president and the Illinois senator would be a 2008 dream ticket, uniting Gore’s experience with Obama’s charisma.

Gore will have no difficulty in raising campaign cash from Hollywood, which awarded him an Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth, his film on global warming, and also from Silicon Valley. Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computer, said: “If he ran, there’s no question in my mind that he would be elected. But I think there is a question in his mind.”

Gore claims to have fallen “out of love” with politics after his bruising experience in 2000, when he won more votes than Bush but lost the presidency. “He knows that once he gets in the race, all the positive coverage he has been receiving will turn negative,” Kamarck said.

He intends to keep the public guessing about his plans all summer while the demand grows for him to run. Asked last week if he would rule himself out as a candidate, he said: “I have no desire to slam the door shut.”

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