It appears that Vice President Al Gore won't be moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue anytime soon, but he can take solace in the fact that the office of Vice President is historically not the best stepping stone to election to the White House. While 14 vice presidents have gone on to serve as the chief executive, nine of those were due to death or resignation. Only four men have been elected president immediately following their terms as vice president - and three of those were before 1840! Gore might want to keep his hopes up reading about another sitting veep who after losing an extremely close election was able to come back several years later and win the presidency. But for now he'll have to buck up and resign himself to joining the other two vice presidents who, after presiding over the counting of electoral votes in Congress, had to declare their opponent the winner.

John Adams VP 1789-1797 under George Washington	elected President over Jefferson. served one term from 1797-1801.
Thomas Jefferson VP 1797-1801 under John Adams	elected President over his boss, Adams, and running mate Aaron Burr. served two terms from 1801-1809.
George Clinton VP 1805-1812 under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison	defeated by James Madison in 1808 (Clinton was running as a candidate for president against Madison, even though he had been nominated as Madison's VP). Clinton purposely avoided being in Washington for the counting of electoral votes, and therefore did not declare his opponent the winner or himself the re-elected VP.
Martin van Buren VP 1833-1837 under Andrew Jackson	elected President over William Henry Harrison. served one term from 1837-1841. no other sitting VP would be elected president for almost 150 years.
John Tyler VP 1841 under William Henry Harrison	succeeded to the presidency after the death of Harrison. served from 1841-1845.
Millard Fillmore VP 1849-1850 under Zachary Taylor	succeeded to the presidency after the death of Taylor. served from 1850-1853.
John Breckinridge VP 1857-1961 under James Buchanan	defeated by Abraham Lincoln. presided over the counting of electoral votes in Congress and had to declare his opponent the winner.
Andrew Johnson VP 1865 under Abraham Lincoln	succeeded to the presidency after the assassination of Lincoln. served from 1865-1869.
Chester Arthur VP 1881 under James Garfield	succeeded to the presidency after the assassination of Garfield. served from 1881-1885.
Theodore Roosevelt VP 1901 under William McKinley	succeeded to the presidency after the assassination of McKinley. elected for an additional term. served from 1901-1909. defeated by Woodrow Wilson in 1912.
Calvin Coolidge VP 1921-1923 under Warren Harding	succeeded to the presidency after the death of Harding. elected for an additional term. served from 1923-1929.
Henry A. Wallace VP 1941-1945 under Franklin Roosevelt	defeated by Harry Truman in 1948.
Harry Truman VP 1945 under Franklin Roosevelt	succeeded to the presidency after the death of Roosevelt. elected for an additional term. served from 1945-1953.
Richard Nixon VP 1953-1961 under Dwight Eisenhower	defeated by John Kennedy. presided over the counting of electoral votes in Congress and had to declare his opponent the winner. elected President over Humphrey in 1968. served one full term/one partial term from 1969-1974.
Lyndon Johnson VP 1961-1963 under John Kennedy	succeeded to the presidency after the assassination of Kennedy. elected for an additional term. served from 1963-1969.
Hubert Humphrey VP 1965-1969 under Lyndon Johnson	defeated by Nixon. was out of the country and did not preside over the counting of electoral votes in Congress.
Gerald Ford VP 1973-1974 under Richard Nixon	succeeded to the presidency after the resignation of Nixon. served from 1974-1977.
Walter Mondale VP 1977-1981 under Jimmy Carter	defeated by Ronald Reagan in 1984.
George Bush VP 1981-1989 under Ronald Reagan	elected President over Michael Dukakis. served one term from 1989-1993. first sitting VP elected president in almost 150 years.
Al Gore VP 1993-2001 under Bill Clinton	defeated by George W. Bush. presided over the counting of electoral votes in Congress and had to declare his opponent the winner.