BOSTON, July 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Former Vice President Al Gore, who lost the 2000 US presidential elections to Republican George W.

    Bush, on Monday called on American Democrats to draw lessons from the elections four years ago.

    Addressing the Democratic National Convention that opened here Monday, Gore said the first lesson was "every vote counts" and to make sure that every vote "is counted" this year.

    The second lesson, he said, was what happened in a presidential election mattered a lot later, as the outcome "profoundly affects the lives" of all Americans and people in the rest of the world.

    He accused President George W. Bush of creating profound problems for Americans with ill-fated policies, and urged those who supported a third-party candidate, Ralph Nader, in 2000 to vote for John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, who is tobe officially nominated during the four-day convention.

    Gore won the popular vote but lost an electoral one in 2000. "Do you still believe that there was no difference between the candidates?" he asked.

    The United States needed a new leadership that would make the country "stronger at home and respected in the world," he said.

    Gore, a former Tennessee senator, served as vice president from 1993 to 2001. He endorsed former Vermont governor Howard Dean last December, instead of his former running mate, Senator Joe Lieberman, and Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts. Enditem