It remains to be seen whether the former Vice President will, in fact, try for the presidential ring once more in a year's time. But if the book deal announcement is any indication, he's a man of quiet stealth. As the Washington Post reports, Al Gore signed a few weeks ago with Penguin Press to write NO ASSAULT ON REASON, but the news is only trickling out now. As described by editor Scott Moyers, the book is a meditation on how "the public arena has grown more hostile to reason," and how solving problems such as global warming is impeded by a political culture with a pervasive "unwillingness to let facts drive decisions."

So is it a harbinger of 2008 plans? Time will tell, but the book's publication next May will fuel yet more flames....