steve fishman's article calls the last decade, al gore's golden years. tv cash flow add that to his books, and other ventures, you have a flawless american success story. except for one detail. the detail happens to be the first thing that comes to mind whenever somebody says al gore. >> good evening, just moments ago i spoke with george w. bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd president of the united states. and i promised him that i wouldn't call him back this time. >> the what if's will always follow gore. but his historic moment of electoral crisis was thrust back into the news last month when former justice, sandra day o'connor questioned whether the high court should have intervened and prevented a florida recount. justice o'connor was the deciding fifth vote in that case and if she had voted differently, we might now be discussing a former president. gore says he was surprised at o'connor's admission and by surprised we're not sure if that's code for quietly devastating. but he stands by the decision he made in 2000. the could have, woul