WASHINGTON, D.C. -- It could have been from Saturday Night Live, were it not real. There's Al Gore, then the vice president, on an Ohio stage. A Democrat and champion of environmentalism, Gore is running for president. And right behind Gore is a young guy in an Ohio State University sweatshirt, smiling and clapping. Each time the video camera turns, there's this guy, smiling over Gore's shoulder, in the crook of his arm, everywhere, like Forrest Gump.

The guy is Josh Mandel, who today is positioning himself as a tested and true conservative Republican. This is no parody.

Rather, it's video footage shot in early 2000 and unearthed by another Republican, Kevin Coughlin, who is running for the GOP's nomination for U.S. Senate in Ohio. To win the nomination and challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown, Coughlin will have to get past Mandel, the current Ohio treasurer. Mandel is aggressively raising money for a Senate run and is expected to have an impressive showing when he records his take at the Federal Election Commission later this week.

Coughlin put the Gore video on his website. A Mandel spokesman said it actually has floated around the Internet for a year. It was shot when Mandel was a student and OSU's undergraduate student government president.

"When I was student body president of Ohio State 11 years ago, I often had to slap on an OSU sweatshirt and represent the student body when dignitaries came to campus," Mandel told Jim Heath of the Ohio News Network in a program that aired Sunday. The video of that interview was put online today by the Mandel campaign (see it below). "I never have been a supporter of Al Gore, never will be, and think that Al Gore's policies are terrible and taking America in the wrong direction."

When Gore's appearance was announced, Mandel told The Lantern, OSU's student newspaper, "This visit definitely represents Vice President Gore's commitment to students, higher education and the State of Ohio."

A day before Gore arrived, Mandel told The Lantern, "The excitement on campus over the past day has been incredible."

After the speech, Mandel told the Columbus Dispatch, "I thought he gave a great speech that resonated with students.''

Nowhere is Mandel quoted as saying he liked Gore politically.

But still, Coughlin -- and Democrats -- are going to have some fun with the Gore video.