The Nobel Peace Prize laureate pledged on Monday "to do whatever I can" to elect Obama. The wholehearted support from Gore could add lustre to Obama's campaign as he tries to win over Democrats who backed his former rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Gore served as vice president under her husband, President Bill Clinton.
"After eight years of incompetence, neglect and failure, we need change," Gore said as he appeared with Obama on Monday night at a rally in Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. "After eight years when our Constitution has been dishonored and disrespected, we need changes."
In 2000, Gore won the popular vote but lost the disputed election to George W. Bush, who captured Florida and its electoral votes after a divided Supreme Court ended the recount of ballots. Since then, Gore has made combatting global warming his signature issue, and has been recognized worldwide for his effort - from an Academy Award for a documentary to the Nobel Peace Prize.
Obama stoked lasting Democratic anger over the 2000 outcome when he recognized Gore as "the winner of the popular vote for president."
"You remember that," Obama said as the crowd of 20,000 erupted in raucous applause.
Also on Monday, Obama announced he would travel to Iraq and Afghanistan before the November election, but he did not say when.
At the Detroit rally, Gore accused Bush of myriad missteps, including a botched response to Hurricane Katrina, economic problems, foreign policy mistakes and allowing lead-tainted toys and poisoned pet food in from China.
"Even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter," he said. "This election matters more than ever because America needs change more than ever."
Gore is one of the most respected figures in the Democratic Party, but he stayed out of the primary campaign.
Obama was planning to remain in Michigan Tuesday for a campaign event with students in Taylor as he tries to make up lost ground and introduce himself to voters in one of the key battleground states in the November election.
Obama did not begin campaigning in the state until recently because he had skipped the state's January primary after the Democratic National Committee declared it was being held too early in violation of party rules.
Gore said Republican candidate John McCain deserves respect for all he has done for this country and for his willingness to debate his party on climate change and other critical issues. But he said the 71-year-old McCain's "age and experience" are not the same as Obama's judgment, noting the Democrat's early opposition to the Iraq war.
The Republican Party pointed out that Gore's 2000 running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman, has since left the Democratic Party and become an independent and is backing McCain.
In response to Gore's harsh critique of Bush, Republican spokesman Alex Conant said, "This election isn't about changing the past, it's about changing the future. It's telling that half of the 2000 Democratic ticket endorsed John McCain early in the campaign, while the other half waited until Barack Obama had been the presumptive nominee for weeks." Obama clinched the nomination on June 3.
Obama focused on economic issues as he spoke in a city that ranks among the leaders nationwide in unemployment, home foreclosures and people lacking health insurance. Obama told the crowd he would fight to revive the struggling U.S. auto industry.
"We are going to build the cars of the future right here in Detroit, right here in Michigan, right here in America," the Illinois senator told supporters in a town that for generations had been the auto capital of the world. Obama called for creating alternative fuels to power plug-in hybrid cars.
McCain on Monday touched on a key difference between Republican and Democratic environmental policies, calling for oil drilling in offshore regions of the United States.
Democrats have opposed offshore drilling for environmental reasons, but, McCain said it is needed to provide relief for Americans struggling with record high gasoline prices. McCain, speaking Monday in Virginia, also suggested giving the states incentives to permit exploration.
He offered no other details on his proposal, which he is expected to describe more fully on Tuesday in an energy policy speech in Texas.
Obama opposes an end to the moratorium, said spokesman Hari Sevugan.
The current drilling moratorium is a perennial cause for controversy, pitting those who favor additional exploration on the one hand against environmentalists on the other. The current ban on offshore drilling covers an estimated 80 percent of U.S. coastal waters.
Obama said Monday he would travel to Iraq and Afghanistan. He has said before he was considering a trip, but his comment to reporters Monday was his first clear confirmation. He said more details will be announced shortly.
Obama has been under fire from McCain, a war veteran and longtime senator who says the Democrat lacks insight into the situation on the ground in Iraq.
The visit would be Obama's first since he made his only trip to Iraq in January 2006 as part of a congressional delegation. McCain has been to Iraq eight times, most recently in March.
McCain backs the war in Iraq, and has sought to highlight his perceived strength in matters of national security and foreign policy. The veteran Arizona senator has painted Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, as naive on world affairs and too inexperienced to back up his plan to withdraw U.S. troops within 16 months of assuming the presidency.
