NYDailyNews

Citizen Gore Joins The Rank & File

By THOMAS M. DeFRANK Daily News Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON - Al Gore finally confronts the reality of becoming a private citizen — he loses his Secret Service protection today and needs to buy a car.

Gore says goodbye to his federal escort exactly six months after leaving office. That means the former vice president and winner of last November's popular vote will chauffeur himself this fall between his farm in Carthage, Tenn., and teaching gigs in Nashville and nearby Murfreesboro.

"I-40 drivers beware," one Gore pal shudders, recalling that as a young man Gore was such a speedster that some Carthage locals pulled off the road when young Albert's pickup hit the highways.

As he shuts down his transition operation here and opens an office in Nashville today, Gore hasn't ruled out another run for the job he believes was stolen from him last November.

He's at least a year away from deciding whether to try again in 2004, friends say. But he's quietly passed word to political allies and financial angels to stay loose.

"There are people who believe it's important he have all engines ready if he makes a decision to run again," says a prominent Gore adviser.

The buzz in Democratic circles is he's likely to run again. But many prominent Democrats privately hope he won't.

"My guess is the average elected Democratic official believes Bush didn't win, Gore lost," says one party leader. "And that view is probably not far away from the average Democratic voter."

For now, Gore will concentrate on his new career in academia and rebuild bridges in his home state, which he lost to President Bush last fall. He'll be a full-time professor at Fisk University and Middle Tennessee State University for the next school year. He'll also lecture at Columbia University and UCLA.

When the Gores left their official residence at the Naval Observatory in northwest Washington, they moved into a house in suburban Arlington, Va.

He's made several big-bucks speeches; worked on a book on the family with his wife, Tipper; held a thank-you bash for true believers, and promised to campaign for several Democratic congressional candidates next year.

In e-mails to pals, Gore still refers to himself as "Al, the guy who used to be introduced as the next President of the United States."

Original Publication Date: 7/20/01

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001