21.   Gore spoke to Chinese leaders a few days earlier and was criticized for appearing uncertain and unprepared.

22.   Gore also spoke at a fund-raising event.

23.   Gore also spoke of his commitment to increasing money for biomedical research.

24.   Gore had spoken about all these matters, intermittently and sometimes movingly, for years.

25.   Gore spoke at the beginning of a two-day symposium on national security sponsored by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School.

26.   Gore spoke briefly.

27.   Gore spoke with marked confidence, displaying only occasional evidence of the wooden mannerisms or halting delivery that has haunted him in the past.

28.   Gore also spoke of how tough decisions in the Oval Office often came in clusters.

29.   Gore first spoke of creating individual tax-free retirement accounts nearly a year ago.

30.   Gore instead will speak to the Family Re-Union conference in Nashville by satellite from Washington.