A trim, newly clean-shaven Al Gore snuck into the Charles Hotel in Cambridge last Thursday for a strategy session with consultant Carter Eskew, only to run smack into a trio of the Green Party activists who vexed him during Campaign 2000.

William Hillsman, a fellow at the Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics who’s best known for crafting innovative campaign ads for Minnesota senator Paul Wellstone, Governor Jesse Ventura, and Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, was at a Charles Hotel bar with Nader campaign manager Theresa Amato and field director Todd Main. Someone recognized Eskew and called him over, and before the pleasantries were completed, in walked none other than the former vice-president himself. Hillsman looked at the beardless Gore and told him he looked different. "Maturity," Gore quipped in reply. The Green trio later sent over a bottle of Lachryma Christi ("Tears of Christ") wine to Gore and Eskew.

"I’m positive that Gore is running," says Hillsman. "He was planning with Eskew." Henry Sheinkopf, a Democratic strategist, downplays the parley. "Any place he shows up with any operative, the rumor mill will start to fan out," says Sheinkopf. "They are old friends. People do grow and shave beards all the time. There will always be speculation about the vice-president until he says he is or is not a candidate."

From here, the smart money says Gore’s in.