The image of a easygoing Al Gore carousing on a stage with Tommy Lee Jones is not one that fits with current media portrayals of the vice president. Many of Gore's Harvard friends, especially Somerby, have publicly castigated the media for portraying Gore as an elitist.

But his friendship with Jones suggests something different.

Gore's first-year roommate in Mower Hall was Jones, then wild-eyed and, in the words of a contemporary, "working-class." At first appearance, the two couldn't be more different. Gore was friendly and accessible but quiet, fond of studying in his Mower double. He had a steady girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Aitcheson, his future wife.

Jones, on the other hand, was a ladies man who was known for leaning out his window and screaming teasing insults at his classmates.

Still, friends say the two roommates got along famously.

While Jones directed his energies toward acting, Gore pursued more typical first-year activities.

As a first-year, he spent most of his free time chatting with friends while playing intramural football or pickup Frisbee in the Yard, or participating in a regular evening poker group.

The wry Gore helped propel the Mower team to the first-year intramural championships, where they narrowly lost to a powerful Hurlbut Hall.