Gore: I am no 'Boss Tweed'

[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/03/31/art.gore.gi.jpg caption="Gore said Sunday he does not anticipate getting involved in the presidential race."]

(CNN) - His name continues to get mentioned as a Democratic elder who could hammer out a resolution in his party's deadlocked presidential race, but former Vice President Al Gore said Sunday he's not interested in the job.

"I'm trying to stay out of it," the former vice president said on CBS' "60 Minutes" of the prolonged race for the White House.

"I'm not applying for the job of broker," he also said when pressed about the possibility he will be one of the few neutral Democrats who could sit Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton down together.

The comments follow increased speculation that Gore, the party's 2000 presidential nominee, may be called to forge a compromise between the two candidates, or even appear on the top of the presidential ticket himself.

In the interview Sunday, Gore laughed off that role as a modern day 'Boss Tweed.'

But last week, Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney of Florida suggested Gore, the party’s 2000 presidential nominee, could assume the role of a compromise candidate if neither Clinton nor Obama could reach a deal themselves.

"If it goes into the convention, don’t be surprised if someone different is at the top of the ticket,” he told a Florida newspaper, adding Gore could be that choice.

Gore shrugged off that suggestion: "I doubt very seriously that I'll ever be a candidate again," he said. Though in a CNN interview last December, Gore said if he did make a return as a candidate, it would only be as a candidate for president

But Gore isn't staying out of politics completely. The former vice president also announced Sunday he's funding a massive, bipartisan ad campaign to raise awareness on global warming. The $300 million venture, funded largely by profits from his Oscar-winning film "An Inconvenient Truth" and the cash component from his Nobel Peace Prize, will feature political rivals jointly calling for action on the climate crisis.

"Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich, two people who don't agree on very much at all...are doing an ad together" Gore explained. Reverends Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson will also appear together, among others.

TIME.com: Is Al Gore the answer?

- CNN's Alexander Mooney and Peter Lanier