There's more than one presidency at stake here.

As Vice President Al Gore '69 waited for the recount yesterday, pundits were already speculating that he could be in the running for the nation's second most highly contested presidency--Harvard's.

Tuesday night, as networks goofed, rhetoric shifted and fickle Florida fluctuated, NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw tossed off a comment about Gore's future to millions of viewers, noting that Gore might be a fit for Harvard's presidential spot. On CBS, a guest of Dan Rather's did the same, as anxious voters awaited the verdict.

As early as Monday, Slate's Timothy Noah '80 began the gossip by devoting his "Chatterbox" column to Gore and the Harvard presidency.

Noah said a list of possible presidential candidates published in The New York Times inspired him to suggest Gore to replace outgoing University President Neil L. Rudenstine.

"I was struck by the implausibility of Clinton because of the Lewinsky scandal and the more prosaic fact that he had no previous connection to Harvard," Noah says in an interview, referring to flying rumors that President Clinton would be considered.

But Noah says the vice president is a much more realistic prospect than his boss is. Gore is a former member of the Board of Overseers, the university's second-highest governing board.

"He has a great affinity for the academic life," Noah says. "It is entirely speculation on my part, it's probably unlikely, but it's at least as worth discussing as any of the other names I've seen mentioned."