• Al Gore. "An Inconvenient Truth," the film in which he stars, posits that the human race has a decade or so to avert calamity from climate change. He has the environmental message to run on if he chooses to make the race, and can rightly claim to be the last Democratic presidential candidate to win a majority of votes. But he may conclude that voters want a new face.

• Russ Feingold. The Wisconsin senator showed the political establishment how to win with hilarious TV ads, and he can feel vindicated now that the American electorate has caught up with his anti-war sentiments. "I'm just now beginning to think about what the implications are for what I do," he said after the midterm election, hinting that he might be cooling on a campaign.

• Evan Bayh. His name has been popping up since the 1990s as a fresh Democratic face, and Indiana's junior senator, now 50, may need to decide soon whether voters still would see the freshness. Democratic victories last week in Indiana, a state as red as Hoosier jerseys, suggest renewed appeal in the Midwest for Democratic devotees of moderate politics.

• Tom Vilsack. The outgoing Iowa governor got a jump on the field last week when he filed papers with the Federal Election Commission to set up his campaign for the White House. Experts say he makes up in centrism what he lacks in charisma. The money he raises from a "Gala Celebration of American Community" fund-raiser in Des Moines on Dec. 2 could help him decide.

• Bill Richardson. The New Mexico governor and former energy secretary in the Clinton administration is a skilled campaigner with a quick wit who can claim Hispanic heritage at a time of expanding influence of both Hispanics and Western voters. He said last week he will decide shortly whether to make the race, which might be aimed at vice president.

• Joseph Biden. He ran for president once, back in the late 1980s, but quit after being accused of plagiarism. The irrepressible Biden, elected to the Senate at age 29, is an adroit strategist who will carry on at length on global issues and anything else. He asserted more than a year ago that he will run for his party's nomination if he concludes he has a shot to win it.