Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore hosts a 24-hour live webcast from the foot of the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. Gore, who helped negotiate the 1997 climate treaty that failed to control global warming, will host the round-the-clock event that includes musical performances by Elton John, Duran Duran and others. Other concerts will be broadcast from locations around the globe, from Rio de Janeiro to Miami, Sydney and Cape Town. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) NASHVILLE - Former Vice President Al Gore says that while he isn't attending this week's Democratic National Convention, he is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.
"I am not able to attend this year's Democratic convention, but I will be voting for Hillary Clinton," Gore said in a statementMonday.
"Given her qualifications and experience - and given the significant challenges facing our nation and the world, including, especially, the global climate crisis, I encourage everyone else to do the same," said the former U.S. senator from Tennessee, who has made climate change a major focus of his post-political career.
Gore served as vice president under the expected nominee's husband, former President Bill Clinton, from 1993 to early 2001.
The Tennessee ran for president himself in 2000, losing to Republican George W. Bush in a tight contest that came down Florida where a vote recount was ultimately halted by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Gore lost his home state of Tennessee.
Gore's office had told The Tennessean Sunday that unspecified "obligations in Tennessee" would prevent Gore from attending the Philadelphia convention.
The former vice president did not endorse Hillary Clinton in her 2008 Democratic primary with Barack Obama. He spoke at the 2004 convention for Democratic nominee John Kerry and in the 2008 for Obama. Gore didn't attend the 2012 convention.