Woodruff: Gore clearly not a 'casual bystander'

CNN's Judy Woodruff

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- Former Vice President Al Gore came out swinging Saturday in Florida, where the butterfly ballot debate and legal wranglings led to his loss of the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush.

CNN's Judy Woodruff followed Gore, and a host of other potential Democratic presidential candidates for the 2004 race, to Orlando, where they spoke and mingled at the state's annual democratic convention. She then talked with CNN Anchor Fredericka Whitfield about the former vice president's speech and demeanor.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I am here in Orlando, Florida, where if you didn't know any better, you might think this was a presidential election year. Of course it's not. But Al Gore, the defeated Democratic nominee for president in 2000, has just finished making his first major political speech since he was defeated.

MORE STORIES Gore rails against GOP in Florida speech

He's come out and told these Florida Democrats that in a time of war, even at a time when there is unity in fighting the war on terrorism, ... they still must speak up for the issues that they disagree with the president.

At one point, Al Gore cited back something Winston Churchill said during World War II in 1943: "Even during a time of war, we must speak up for what we believe in."

Here's what Al Gore said a few moments ago.

AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: I'm tired of this right wing side sidewind. I've had it.

America's economy is suffering unnecessarily, important American values are being trampled, special interests are calling the shots, and it sometimes seems as if, in the words of the poet, "the best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity."

If you agree with me, then stand up with conviction for what we believe in and fight for it!

WOODRUFF: So the former vice president is dishing out some red meat. He spelled out his differences with the Bush administration, poked fun at their policies on Social Security, on the budget, on taxes, on the environment.

The bottom line, though, is that he is now just one of several Democrats who are thinking about running for president in 2004.

He's not the only Democrat speaking [at the Florida state democratic convention]. John Edwards, the senator from North Carolina, spoke here earlier this morning. These Democrats from Florida will also be hearing from John Kerry, the senator from Massachusetts, and Sunday from Joe Lieberman.

So the Democratic race is very much up in the air, but this is one fired-up group of Democrats.

WHITFIELD: It looked like Al Gore himself was something, but nothing definitively coming from him as to if indeed he will be running?

WOODRUFF: No. He [is] still being very coy. And I think they mean it when they say he has not absolutely decided. But I think you have to say that after this, all the signs point to the fact that he would love to make another run for president.

These were not the words of somebody who is a casual bystander. He is passionately interested, and we have to say there was more excitement in his voice than in any of the other few outings where he's made speeches and where he has addressed the president's policy.