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Jewish World Review Sept. 12, 2000 / 11 Elul, 5760

Chris Matthews

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Consumer Reports


AlGore's silent partner


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- AL GORE is running the best presidential campaign since an earlier vice president, George Bush, came from 17 points behind to win the 1988 election by 8 points.

Like Bush senior, Gore is changing people's minds, actively shifting their allegiances. He has reversed the national polls with a thunderclap, grabbing leads over Gov. George W. Bush of Texas that in several cases exceed the margin of error.

Gore deserves full credit for the turnaround. His hot surge of voter support rises from the three potent assets with which he began the campaign: a strong economy, which always benefits the incumbent party; an agenda of kitchen-table issues with special, but hardly exclusive, appeal to women voters; the early, effective indictment, fair or not, that his rival lacks the mental vigor needed to lead the country.

The economy
Rather than brag about the boom, Gore last week issued a 12-chapter book, "Prosperity for America's Families," outlining his plans to eliminate the national debt, underwrite Social Security and create better opportunities, including tax-deductible college tuition, for the middle class.

Kitchen-table Issues
In 1960, when John F. Kennedy fought and defeated Richard M. Nixon, the candidates promised to protect the free world. In 2000, the country's political agenda rewards the candidate who promises to provide free drugs for seniors. Bush spent last week trying to match what Gore has been promising all year.

Brain power
Bush spent last week refusing to accept the three all-network prime-time debates the Republican and Democratic candidates have accepted since 1992. He wanted to meet, instead, on a special edition of "Meet the Press" and on "Larry King Live."

Message to voter: Gore wanted to debate before a huge audience at least three times; Bush didn't mind the cozier surroundings of a TV studio, but he was scared to face Gore lectern-to-lectern on some cold, cavernous stage with 60 million people the way his father did with Bill Clinton.

The Democratic candidate has shown the same skill level in cutting his losses. Before the Democratic convention, the world of press and political opinion agreed that President Clinton could not, would not, get off the national electoral stage and let his vice president star.

Clinton has proven us all wrong. His trip to Africa got him not just out of town but into the hearts of those, including ex-Peace Corps volunteers like me, who want to see that AIDS-plagued continent get some long-overdue U.S. attention. His stop in Colombia, bolstering the anti-drug war, was another winner, as was his attendance at the United Nations last week.

By eliminating his own troubling personality from the Gore-Bush fight, by accenting his role as world leader — and intimate of Nelson Mandela — Clinton has been the silent partner in the most impressive political barnstorming since old man Bush demolished Mike Dukakis.



JWR contributor Chris Matthews is the author of Hardball. and hosts a CNBC show of the same name. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

Up

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