It was hard not to think of Al Gore Saturday in Boston, when the weather was a balmy 68 degrees and residents took to the streets in shorts. But will the former vice president seek the White House again, or choose another platform for his environmental advocacy?

Today’s Washington Post political blog takes a look at the slim (but hard to ignore) possibility that Gore will make the race for president a second time, eight years after defeating George W. Bush in the popular vote.

What’s clear from talking to those close to Gore is that the former V.P. is not currently plotting any national bid, publicly or privately.

A former aide tells the Post that the lack of clarity concerning Gore is because he is already running a campaign of sorts - to bring more attention to the issue of global warming. And that campaign should not be read as a shadow candidacy for the presidency.

In fact, he could be using the latter in the opposite way: in many ways, keeping his name in the mix for the 2008 election helps raise the profile of Gore’s signature issue, according to former spokesman Chris Lehane.

“He is a smart enough person to recognize that people talking about [global warming] through the prism of a presidential run is a good way to highlight and focus interest on an issue he cares deeply about,” he said.

So is Gore’s refusal to rule out the race simply a function of his desire to keep the limelight on global warming? It’s possible. The former senator from Tennessee made a career out of environmental policy long before he was the Democrats’ choice to succeed Bill Clinton, and eight years removed from his White House bid, many doubt he has another in him.

But don’t count him out, either. Talk of a Gore run remains rampant among liberals who revere him for his early opposition to the war in Iraq. Not to mention the fact that Many Democratic consultants view Gore as the ultimate alternative to Hillary Clinton.

“Everything he said about George W. Bush in 2000 was true,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), a former Bill Clinton aide who would likely support Mrs. Clinton should she run in 2008.

Not even Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) can match Gore there.

While Obama has risen to the top of the potential 2008 field thanks to his opposition to the war - along with charisma and a peculiar, yet undeniable sense of destiny regarding his candidacy - he lacks the political savvy and foreign policy chops of Gore.

In other words, Obama talks the talk. Gore has walked the walk.

“In many ways he is our strongest candidate. I never thought I would have said that a few years ago,” said one senior Democratic strategist who was granted anonymity in order to speak frankly.

What appeals to Gore backers, however, is not simply the many issues he has focused on, but the sense that Gore has found himself - an idea fueled by his widely acclaimed book and film, An Inconvenient Truth.

“People have a lot of respect for what he has done with the movie and the book,” said Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network. “It reminded everybody what we all loved about Al Gore.”

When Gore was picked to be Bill Clinton’s running mate, he was forced to subdue his own personality and interests to that of the chief executive. Now, he is once again displaying the personality he showed in 17 years in the U.S. House and Senate.

For now, any chatter about a reinvented, reinvigorated Al Gore is all talk. It remains unlikely that Gore will re-enter the political fray given the successes he has found in private life.

But until Gore rules out a 2008 run on the record, you can’t ignore the possibility that he’ll try again. If the pro-Gore sentiment among liberal activists and donors is not quashed by Obama entering the race, and if Clinton looks to be a heavy favorite heading into the fall, it may be impossible for Gore to turn down the opportunity.

But for now, all we can do is watch. Closely.