Global Cooling Hits Al Gore

I guess it's gotten pretty frosty at the Gore mansion:

Former Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, are separating after 40 years of marriage.

According to an e-mailed statement obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday, the Gores said it was "a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration."

Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider confirmed the statement came from the Gores, but declined to comment further.

Al Gore lost the 2000 presidential election to Republican George W. Bush. He has since campaigned worldwide to draw attention to climate change, which in 2007 led to a Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar for the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

Tipper Gore is known for her advocacy on mental health issues. She became interested partly because her mother suffered from depression.

There's no truth to the rumor that the marriage broke up because Al had an affair with a polar bear.