WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Gore, who launched a broad attack on President Bush's Iraq policy last week, will give a "major" policy speech on the U.S. economy in Washington on Wednesday.
Stepping up his political profile as he prepares to make a decision on another run for the presidency, Gore will give the address at Washington's Brookings Institution, spokesman Jano Cabrera said.
Gore's Iraq speech in San Francisco last week galvanized Democratic concerns over Bush's plans for a military move against Baghdad and helped slow down what was expected to be quick congressional approval of a resolution on use of force.
Gore said Bush's focus on Iraq was a distraction in the war on terror and the president should make more of an effort to gain U.N backing for a move against Iraq.
The speech on economic policy comes as Democrats are desperately trying to switch attention away from Iraq and back to "kitchen table" domestic issues like the economy and jobs in the run-up to the Nov. 5 congressional elections.
Democrats plan a series of events in connection with this week's release of unemployment figures and quarterly retirement account records.
Gore's back-to-back major speeches are a dramatic increase in the political profile of the former vice president, who lost the White House to Bush in 2000 after a five-week recount battle in Florida, and they will surely increase speculation that he is preparing another presidential run.
After nearly a year of being largely out of the public eye, Gore began to make some public appearances earlier this year and has done some campaigning for Democratic candidates.
He has promised to make a decision on another run for the presidency by the end of the year.
The Iraq and economic speeches will double the major addresses he has given since the Florida recount battle. Earlier this year he spoke on foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, and in April he spoke to the Florida Democratic Party's annual convention.