GORE: He didn’t create the Internet? Oh my God! [Laughs.] Eventually he’s going to declare his candidacy and then people are going to get to know him, and they’re going to get to know what he’s like and what he stands for and what his proposals for the future are. None of that has happened yet.

The grumbling is because there’s a void out there that people are trying to fill. The curtains haven’t opened yet, and it’s like the audience is beginning to get rowdy. Well, the play isn’t written yet. The first act hasn’t been finished. When we get ready we will announce the opening of the show. It’s not ready yet, but it will be.

I don’t know what he’s like when I’m not with him. But when I’m with him we have a pretty good time.

Anybody who’s in the public eye probably feels ambivalent about it… That’s because people just get little pieces of you, or they get a one-dimensional picture. People are complex, fragile, interesting, unique individuals. They have all kinds of life experiences. It’s very hard to put them in a little box and stereotype them. Often that’s what happens… My ambivalence is just pretty normal, probably what anybody would feel.

Not now, no. I’ll get used to [the scrutiny]. I know that that comes with the territory. But the other question of do I want him to run for president? Absolutely. Am I behind him? One hundred and fifty percent.

If there are more people who feel like it’s the right thing to do to pay attention to kids and what their cultural world is like, yes, that’s what I’ve been saying all along. Lately someone with a baby will say, “Hi, Mrs. Gore. I was in my mid-20s when you were doing this, and I wasn’t sure exactly where you were coming from on this issue. Now I have these kids and they’re trying to buy this stuff, and I really appreciate the fact that there’s a warning label on it.”

I think I can say this in generic terms: one’s mind plays tricks with oneself. It’s a very insidious kind of disease because you don’t know you have it and you think… that the world would be better off without you. That is very serious… There are a number of signs and symptoms of depression [including gaining weight, changes in sleep habits, lack of energy and feelings of low self-esteem]; if you read down the list and two to four of those apply to you for more than two weeks, you should see a mental-health professional. That’s what I did. I know so much about this–I have a master’s degree, I was going into family counseling–so in a way, I quickly knew. I looked it up and went, “OK, this time I’m calling my friend not as a friend but professionally.”

It’s not something that I worry about. It is something that I am aware of. I now know my limits. I have in my younger years, in my 40s, been overextended. I don’t want to do that again. I am going to try to continue to make sure that as I go through my life I know how I perform the best and what my limits are and be sure that I design my schedule and my life that way.

I’m going to be very involved. Again, knowing my limits, I don’t want to get overly stressed-out, but I wouldn’t anyway at this point in my life. Why? [Laughs.] What’s the point? I want to enjoy myself… I love people; I get energy from the campaign. I’m going to be campaigning as much as I can, given the fact that we have four children. They’re not tugging at my apron strings or hemline anymore, obviously: they’re grown except for our son, who’s still 16. But I’m still the mother and Al’s the father, and we still have our responsibilities to our kids–and we’re going to be grandparents next month. I take care of my mother, and Al takes care of his mother. We are like most families.

I don’t know. [Laughs.] How could I know? It’s premature. My husband hasn’t even announced yet. We’re trying to get the damn thing organized. No matter what, I’m going to keep working on the issues that I care about.

What I’m saying is every person is different. Every one of us is a unique individual.