NJ Ledger-Star

Trouble is on horizon for Al Gore

08/20/01

He-e-e-e-e's back! Al Gore emerged last week from his self-imposed, post-election exile, to a reception from Democrats that fell somewhat short of "be still, my heart."

As the party's most recent presidential nominee, Gore is its nominal leader and should be its most visible and influential spokesman and principal fund-raiser. In addition, polls make him a clear favorite to win the Democratic presidential nomination next time if he wants it -- as it's assumed he does.

But Gore labors under a rare love-hate relationship with his party sure to complicate any aspirations he has for a current leadership role or the presidential nomination in 2004.

Many rank-and-file Democrats revere him as the victim of a stolen election and would relish giving him a chance for revenge in the next presidential election. They see Gore as someone who beat George W. Bush by more than a half-million votes in the population election and was counted out by a partisan U.S. Supreme Court.

But other Democrats, especially those with more than simply a sentimental rooting interest in the party, view Gore as a choker who lost a sure-thing election in a time of unparalleled prosperity that even Aaron Burr couldn't have blown.

The way these things work, it's the latter group -- organized labor, state and local candidates who would share the ballot with Gore next time, teachers and trial lawyers, party leaders and major money raisers -- who will have the largest voice in picking the next Democratic nominee. In the main, they're Gore doubters.

It's a sign of the struggle Gore faces that he draws criticism from some Democratic interest groups for his silence during Bush's first seven months in office. And yet that's precisely what he should have done. Despite the tainted nature of Bush's victory, a less partisan public seems to prefer that Bush be given a bit of breathing room his first months in office.

Gore understood and left it to Democratic congressional leaders, such as Tom Daschle, the Senate majority leader, to take on criticism of the Bush record.

The 2002 struggle for control of the Senate and House -- which, incidentally, will begin in earnest with the return of Congress next month and the budget battle over taxes, spending and the vanishing surplus -- will serve as Gore's re-entry to the political arena. He has agreed already to campaign in New Jersey for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim McGreevey as a warm-up for offering the same service to Senate and House Democratic candidates next year.

Equally important, Gore has leased office space in Washington's Virginia suburbs and plans to set up a political action committee of his own to finance his campaign travels and -- providing it generates enough cash -- to parcel out money to Democratic candidates around the country. Nothing builds future loyalty like ready cash for a needy candidate.

It's a natural role for a party leader. But Gore will face stiff competition for the title of chief fund-raiser from a familiar source -- Slick Willy himself. The signs from his bicoastal bases --Harlem and Hollywood -- are that Bill Clinton does not intend to depart demurely. He still stirs the Democratic base as Gore never could. He's still the party's champion cash cow. And he still puts the glamourless Gore in the shade.

But there's still another, perhaps larger liability that Gore faces. It's the old-hat syndrome. Beginning with this vain quest for the Democratic nomination in 1988, Gore has been a candidate in the last four national elections. There's a real question whether he has worn out his welcome with the Democratic Party establishment, never mind with the public.

With that in mind, the roster of potential Democratic rivals seems to grow almost daily. Unless he becomes speaker after next year's congressional elections, House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt will almost surely be a candidate -- and siphon off much of the labor support that sealed the nomination for Gore last year. From the Senate, Daschle, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), and especially Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), have indicated an interest in running. And the requisite Southerner has emerged in freshman Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.).

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), Gore's running mate last year, is also revving up for a run -- but only if Gore does not. He won't seek the nomination, Lieberman has said, if Gore does. Considering Lieberman's disappointing performance in the general election, especially his debate with Dick Cheney, that alone might be reason for Democrats to welcome Gore's return from exile.

John Farmer is The Star-Ledger's national political correspondent.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2001