While the pundits enthusiastically predict a possible New York showdown between Senator Hillary Clinton and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2008, the real state to watch might be Tennessee.

Former Vice President Al Gore, a former Senator from the Volunteer State, hit Washington last week to testify before his old house on global warming, his current crusade. And the wheels are being set in motion on the Republican side for another former Tennessee Senator, Fred Thompson, to jump into the race.

The plusses on Gore’s side are easy to see. After winning the popular vote in 2000 despite losing the electoral college contest, voters might think it is time to give the former veep a chance at the Oval Office in 2008, a chance he should have had eight years prior. And Thompson would be the credible conservative the Republican base is dying for, given the lack of conservative cred the three Republican frontrunners—Giuliani, Arizona Senator John McCain and

former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney—bring to the table.

The Democratic race to the White House has quickly become a three-way race, with Clinton and her Illinois colleague Barack Obama leading the way while former North Carolina Senator John Edwards stands behind them in third place. If any outsider candidate has the ability to crack that triad it is Gore, who brings instant credibility, an Oscar for his documentary An Inconvenient Truth and a Nobel Prize nomination to the party. Gore is the only Democrat who could ever make a late entrance to the race, and his increased public profile over the past weeks and months, as well as his apparent weight loss, would indicate that he is preparing for one last grab at the brass ring.

Not that Gore is without his problems, and they have nothing to do with his previous service in the White House. Serious environmentalists have begun to take issue with some of Gore’s more alarmist claims on the topic of global warming, and his own environmental behavior has come into question due to the excessive energy use at his own Tennessee home. When before the Senate, Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe flatly (and somewhat rudely) asked Gore if he would set an example by signing a pledge to use no more than the average American household energy use for his own home. Gore refused, instead discussing his purchase of “carbon offsets,” which more or less allow the wealthy to pollute and simply buy their consciences clean.

Were he to enter the race, other Democrats could accuse him of not doing enough on the environment, of not walking the walk while he talked the talk. In a general election, Republicans would just call him an alarmist hypocrite. But Democrats would be unlikely to take that road, since their own energy use could then become an issue. Edwards lives in a huge mansion and probably uses similar energy when compared to Gore. And would Clinton and Obama really want to get into arguments on the stump about who buys better light bulbs?

If you don’t recognize Thompson’s name, you almost certainly recognize his face. He currently plays Manhattan District Attorney Arthur Branch on NBC’s “Law & Order,” and has appeared in numerous films from the blockbuster The Hunt for Red October to much more embarrassing fare like Baby’s Day Out and Aces: Iron Eagle III. On the new website dedicated to pushing Thompson into the race, Fred08.com, Thompson loyalists make the obvious connection, declaring that his government history and Hollywood roots make him the perfect man to take the White House, as he is the ideological heir to Republican hero and Bedtime for Bonzo star Ronald Reagan. “Fred has the knowledge and expertise on the issues that matter most in today's world,” states the website. “Fred Thompson, like Ronald Reagan, has the ability to bring conservative principles to the Oval Office, communicate to Americans, and bring our nation together.”

One could already imagine the attack ads: “This is real life, not a movie, we don’t need someone playing the president, etc., etc.” Similar lines certainly were used against Reagan and another actor-turned-politician, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In a general election, Thompson would also have to deal with his strong conservative positions. While it might hurt Giuliani in the Republican primary, his social liberalism is seen as an asset in a general election fight. Could Thompson make conservatism work against Clinton or Obama?

With Gore and Thompson potentially entering the race, voters watching the election might soon be focusing on a different state when they look for their top-level candidates. Look out, Rudy and Hillary.