On Monday night, filmmaker Michael Moore made his first appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" since the 2004 presidential election.

As is often the case with Moore, he surprised the audience. But in this case, the surprise was the result of his new look. Moore appeared on stage wearing a suit and tie, no beard or hat and a trim haircut.

When asked by Jay Leno about his appearance, Moore quipped, "I thought I should look a little sharper for my IRS audit" and "If you can't beat them, you might as well look like them."

Moore told Leno that there was a reason President Bush was re-elected November 2, "He got more votes."

"The Republicans - I'll give them this - they had a story to tell," Moore continued. "The Democrats, often times, aren't very good at telling a story. And the [Bush] story was: Out of the ashes of Sept. 11 rose one man. And he stood on the rubble of lower Manhattan with a bullhorn and he said, 'I will protect you.' "

Moore had some advice for Democrats who were unhappy with the results of the 2004 presidential election. "[Bush's victory] was just a couple of percentage points," Moore told the "Tonight Show" audience. "People who voted for Kerry shouldn't be depressed at this point. They should pick themselves up . . . There's another game in four years. And we'll come back and do the best we can."

Moore previously appeared on "The Tonight Show" Oct. 15, when he led the studio audience in singing "America The Beautiful."