Former Democratic Vice President Al Gore stumped the state with Gov. Gray Davis on Friday, trying to link the 2000 presidential election fiasco in Florida and the California recall by reminding Democrats that "when the people vote in an election, it should be afforded the respect that's due."

Gore received an enthusiastic reception from a crowd of 150 labor and party activists at a San Francisco labor hall, where chants of "Recall Bush! Recall Bush!" echoed through the building. The 2000 Democratic presidential candidate urged Democratic voters to cast a "no" vote on recall against Davis.

In San Francisco and Los Angeles on Friday, Gore and Davis compared the recall to the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton and the Florida election debacle, in which the U.S. Supreme Court refused Gore's request to recount votes after the results were disputed in several counties.

"Al Gore should have been president of the United States," Davis said. "Nobody can speak with more clarity as to what the Republicans are doing and the attempt to overturn legitimate elections that they lost the first time around."

Davis and Gore were surrounded by a score of key Democratic leaders, including state party Chairman Art Torres and Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown. Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi -- who briefly considered running as a Democratic candidate in the replacement portion of the recall election -- and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco also attended the event. Pelosi was among the congressional Democrats who urged Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante to enter the race to provide Democrats with a fallback in case voters toss out Davis.

But Bustamante's name was conspicuously absent from the San Francisco event Friday, as Democrats stuck to a theme of "no on recall" with no mention of the candidates on the second part of the ballot.

They warmly greeted Gore, whose San Francisco address turned into an impassioned sermon and remembrance of the 2000 election, delivered to an audience that responded "Tell it!" and "That's right!" Many in the crowd carried "Draft Gore in 2004" signs.

The former vice president remains enormously popular among Democrats in California -- a state he won by 1.3 million votes in 2000.

"Some people actually said it really didn't make a difference which way the vote went -- but it made a difference," Gore said. "From peace and prosperity .

. . we now have a recession and three years in a row of job loss that hasn't happened since Herbert Hoover.

"This nation has tragically bungled into a situation in Iraq where our brave soldiers are paying too high a price for a historic mistake."

The former vice president often injected humor into his speech.

Speaking of the country's current economic problems and job loss, Gore told the crowd of laborers, "I was the first one laid off. You never forget something like that. In my case, it was just before noon -- Jan. 20."

One of the audience members yelled out that it was not too late to submit a grievance. Deadpanned Gore: "Where do I file?"

And at another point, Davis told the crowd that it was only fair that elections should go to the candidates who get the most votes. The former vice president turned to Pelosi. "I thought that, too," he joked, referring to the 2000 results in which he won more popular votes than George Bush.

Earlier Friday, Davis joined Gore at an African American voter registration rally in Los Angeles to urge people to register by Monday to be eligible to vote.

Coming on stage to the pumping beat of James Brown, Davis showed a looser style than his usually stiff image by clapping his hands, dancing with Rep. Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles, and giving Gore a bear hug.

Davis initially introduced Gore as the former vice president, then said, "let's drop the 'Vice' -- President Gore!"