People looking at Al Gore today see a product of the American upper crust: a presidential contender born in Washington, reared in a top-floor suite of a hotel along Embassy Row, his father a senator, his mother trained in law, the high-achieving parents grooming their prince for political success at the finest private schools in the East.

CNN: Excerpt: 'The Prince of Tennessee: The Rise of Al Gore'

U.S. diplomats opening a new American Embassy were temporarily housed in a sky-high suite of the pricey Corinthia Hotel.

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