Gore

A QUESTIONER in the final presidential debate asked about the foundation of political apathy for young voters. This question, coupled with the candidates' illusive responses, best captures the lingering aftertaste of the three debates: a sweet, fluffy concoction that, once consumed, leaves you unfulfilled, wanting more. Politics, like a poorly made cappuccino, is more froth than substance. Transfixed in front of my television, I waited for Al Gore and George W. Bush to address the concerns of my demographic: 20-something, college-age kids.

CLEVELAND -- In his acceptance speech last month, Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore told his party's national convention he knew many people thought he was too serious, but that running for president was serious business. Continuing to make a virtue out of his seriousness, just as he did in that acceptance speech, the vice president here the other day unveiled a 191-page economic plan for a Gore presidency that was pointedly heavy on specifics. In the heart of the old Rust Belt, Mr. Gore accompanied the release of his plan, called "Prosperity for America's Families," with a speech in which he reminded his listeners again and again that he was throwing a full blueprint at them to examine and make up their own minds.

EVERYBODY on board the Glendening Express! Next stop: Washington. What had been a quiet, carefully planned effort to elevate Gov. Parris N. Glendening up the political ladder leaped into the national spotlight last week in Annapolis. There was President Clinton standing behind the governor, almost like a proud father, as Mr. Glendening signed a first-in-the-nation bill mandating safety locks for all handguns sold in Maryland. Gun control is a key issue for the president, and for Vice President Al Gore.

WASHINGTON -- By choosing Bill Daley to run his campaign, Vice President Al Gore has sent a clear and revealing message to the political community that he recognizes his candidacy is in serious trouble. There is no assurance, of course, that a new chairman can correct things that are wrong with his campaign. But admitting the need for help is at least a first step. This is not a case of a candidate turning to an old friend in time of need. Mr. Gore and Mr. Daley have been political allies in the administration of President Clinton, but they are not close personal friends.

WASHINGTON -- Apparently Hillary Clinton's campaign-mode posture toward being first lady -- been there, done that -- is now being adopted by Al Gore regarding the vice presidency. Just Mrs. Clinton is popping in and out of her role as first lady, the vice president is being quoted these days as saying that "running for president of this country is far more important than being the best vice president I can possibly be."This observation comes in the context of Mr. Gore's determination, as all vice presidents running for the Oval Office in the shadow of their presidents seek, to be "his own man."

BEDFORD, N.H. --- The central lesson to be drawn from the Democratic debates so far may be that Vice President Al Gore and former Sen. Bill Bradley have nothing to say to one another. Or, at least, nothing interesting that would help primary voters make a choice. On the contrary, they have used their debates to demonstrate that their disagreements, to the extent that they exist at all, are about ways and means, not goals and policies. The issue on which the two Democratic presidential candidates have been generating the most heat has been health care.

WASHINGTON -- There is a point in every presidential campaign when it becomes clear that one candidate or the other has little margin for error. Vice President Al Gore seems to have reached that point. The Democratic nominee is by no means doomed. He still has the potential to win the Nov. 7 election. But Mr. Gore is also in a position in which he needs to reverse the apparent trend of sentiment in several key states or face defeat at the hands of Gov. George W. Bush of Texas. The most obvious indicator of Mr. Gore's peril is the finding of five national opinion polls that Mr. Bush is ahead, by enough percentage points in three of them so they cannot be dismissed as statistical anomalies.

DES MOINES -- When Bill Bradley arrived here the other day, he reminded everyone that it was his 26th visit to Iowa in the year since he became a de facto Democratic presidential candidate.And, if you listen to those around him, he plans to step up the pace in the six weeks left until the precinct caucuses here begin the process of choosing delegates for his party's convention.This increased attention to Iowa -- and it is a change -- is noteworthy because the precinct caucus campaign here is one in which Mr. Bradley was considered to be at a significant disadvantage to Vice President Al Gore.

IT SEEMS AS IF the major presidential candidates are running more for the schoolhouse than the White House. George W. Bush brags that he has visited more than 100 schools so far. Al Gore has promised weekly, all-day school visits during the campaign. Both proclaim K-12 education as the No. 1 issue. That's no surprise, since that's how voters rank it. But what is revolutionary is the nationalization of school politics. Only a few years ago, local control of schools was sacred political dogma.

WASHINGTON -- For presidential candidate Al Gore, the crisis in the Balkans has no positive side. He cannot emerge from it as a winner. He might even find his campaign seriously compromised. And he has no control whatsoever over the outcome.Indeed, all the vice president can do is just what he is doing, standing at the side of President Clinton -- both literally and figuratively -- lest he be accused of disloyalty to his political sponsor in time of crisis.At this stage, the most logical bet would be that the crisis in Kosovo will not figure heavily, if at all, in the presidential politics of 2000.