Tipper Gore

Tipper Gore, wife of Sen. Al Gore, the Democratic vic presidential candidate, is scheduled to campaign in Baltimore today. Mrs. Gore is scheduled to speak at an 11 a.m. voter registration rally at Lexington Market.

They should have stayed together. If not for the kids, then for the rest of us. That seems to be the tone of the national hand-wringing over the news that Al and Tipper Gore are separating after 40 years of marriage. "How could they do that to us?" the chattering class is asking. "Were they even thinking about us? What are we supposed to do at Christmas? And who gets custody of our notion of a good marriage?" At a time when we seem to be at some kind of cosmic peak in marital misbehavior, the Gores were the national model of a successful public marriage.

Tipper Gore, following Hillary Clinton's lead, has chosen to showcase designers from her own home-state during this week's inaugural events.On Inauguration Day, Mrs. Gore will be dressed by Memphis, Tenn.'s, Pat Kerr, who is known for incorporating heirloom laces and antique textiles into her designs.For the ceremony, Mrs. Gore will wear a semi-fitted, black wool crepe suit with a satin shell and jabot of antique ivory Duchesse lace.At the inaugural ball, her dress will be a slender black column of black lace.

WASHINGTON -- Hardly had Republican Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee pulled his hat out of the ring for fall re-election the other day when former Tennessee governor and two-time presidential candidate Lamar Alexander tossed his in for the GOP nomination. Mr. Thompson said he'd had enough after nearly eight years. As for Mr. Alexander, he didn't have to be asked twice. Shortly afterward, Tennessee and Washington were abuzz over word from Tipper Gore, wife of Al Gore, the former vice president and U.S. senator, that she was "considering" doing the same for the Democratic nomination.

Tipper Gore underwent surgery yesterday afternoon at Johns Hopkins Hospital to remove a nodule from her thyroid gland, which doctors will test for cancer. They'll know the results in about a week.Earlier tests on the lump had been inconclusive, so physicians recommended that Gore have the surgery, according to statement released last night by Gore's spokeswoman, Camille Johnston."The only way to find out what this is is to have it removed and have it tested," Johnston said. She said Gore and her husband, Vice President Al Gore, planned to stay over at Hopkins last night.

When Bill Clinton chose Al Gore as his running mate, he knew what he was getting: A member of his own generation, someone with Washington experience, foreign policy seasoning, service in Vietnam and, perhaps most important, no reputation for hanky panky.Tipper Gore was a pleasant surprise.The Gore/Clinton coming-out party took place on a sweltering July day in Little Rock. Some liberals still had negative vibes because of Mrs. Gore's mid-1980s crusade to clean up rock lyrics. But on the lawn behind the governor's mansion, the two families looked like something Norman Rockwell would have painted on a particularly luminous day.The husbands were tall and good-looking, their wives rosy-cheeked and smart.

Tipper Gore once baked a batch of sugar cookies while being interviewed for The New York Times, something we all know Hillary Clinton wouldn't attempt in her wildest dreams.And while Ms. Clinton says she is not the kind of woman portrayed in Tammy Wynette's classic song, "Stand By Your Man," Ms. Gore is. She gave up plans to become a child psychologist to be a mother of four and the kind of wife who combs her hair and touches up her lipstick before her husband returns home in the evening.

They should have stayed together. If not for the kids, then for the rest of us. That seems to be the tone of the national hand-wringing over the news that Al and Tipper Gore are separating after 40 years of marriage. "How could they do that to us?" the chattering class is asking. "Were they even thinking about us? What are we supposed to do at Christmas? And who gets custody of our notion of a good marriage?" At a time when we seem to be at some kind of cosmic peak in marital misbehavior, the Gores were the national model of a successful public marriage.

In MarylandTipper Gore leaves Hopkins after thyroid surgeryBALTIMORE -- Tipper Gore, 51, wife of Vice President Al Gore, was discharged early yesterday afternoon from Johns Hopkins Hospital after a one-night stay for thyroid surgery and was resting comfortably at home in Washington, according to her spokeswoman, Camille Johnston.In the operation Tuesday, surgeons removed the right half of Gore's thyroid so it could be tested for cancer. Earlier tests had been inconclusive. Nodules in the thyroid are common and usually benign.

Tipper Gore said in Baltimore yesterday that states are not ready to run programs that serve people with mental disorders, although impending federal Medicaid reform would give them control over those programs.In an interview with reporters at the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy's national conference, Mrs. Gore, the wife of Vice President Al Gore, said she has been meeting with panels of state health officials to discuss how states would administer block grant programs for health care.

WASHINGTON - Tipper Gore, wife of former Vice President Al Gore, is seriously considering a run for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee, several well-placed Gore sources confirmed yesterday. She is expected to make a final decision within the next few days, said a Gore associate, who, like the others, spoke on the condition that he not be identified. Gore broke off a trip to California and returned to Nashville to discuss the race with family members and potential supporters. One immediate obstacle is the prospect of a Democratic primary fight against a veteran congressman from her husband's old House district around Nashville.

IN A FEW DAYS, I will be expected to step into a voting booth and cast my ballot - in a semi-intelligent manner and with some grasp of the issues - for the next president of the United States. Well, um, OK. Here's what I've learned about the two major candidates during this long campaign: Al Gore has a great prescription-drug plan for senior citizens, while George W. Bush's plan is way too expensive and would leave the elderly coughing up blood, wracked with mysterious fevers and desperately scavenging through hospital dumpsters for the medicine they need.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Addiction, like an albatross, accompanied Inez Reid from Dallas to North Carolina's capital city. Homelessness, not opportunity, was the familiar greeting awaiting Sean Anderson when he moved with his wife from Salem, Ore., to Raleigh. For the past few months, both Ms. Reid and Mr. Anderson have found some comfort and a little hope in the shelters of a region known for its high-tech jobs and educational institutions. Here, as in Baltimore and in too many other places in America, the unprecedented economic boom finds a shameful number worrying much more about where to get their next meals than about obtaining a faster modem.

Cast your mind back a few years, to a Senate subcommittee hearing on vulgar lyrics and offensive messages in popular music. One of the witnesses, in high dudgeon, describes at length and with horror the disturbing and disgusting things some pop groups sing about. Finally, the witness angrily tells the committee, "[these records are] telling our children it's the season of senseless violence, hopelessness and the most awful ill will toward each other ... "This is extreme, awful, disgusting stuff kids are listening to."

In MarylandTipper Gore leaves Hopkins after thyroid surgeryBALTIMORE -- Tipper Gore, 51, wife of Vice President Al Gore, was discharged early yesterday afternoon from Johns Hopkins Hospital after a one-night stay for thyroid surgery and was resting comfortably at home in Washington, according to her spokeswoman, Camille Johnston.In the operation Tuesday, surgeons removed the right half of Gore's thyroid so it could be tested for cancer. Earlier tests had been inconclusive. Nodules in the thyroid are common and usually benign.

Tipper Gore underwent surgery yesterday afternoon at Johns Hopkins Hospital to remove a nodule from her thyroid gland, which doctors will test for cancer. They'll know the results in about a week.Earlier tests on the lump had been inconclusive, so physicians recommended that Gore have the surgery, according to statement released last night by Gore's spokeswoman, Camille Johnston."The only way to find out what this is is to have it removed and have it tested," Johnston said. She said Gore and her husband, Vice President Al Gore, planned to stay over at Hopkins last night.

In the beginning, there was only rock 'n' roll.Now there are car pools and soccer practices and PTAs.To tap into the expanding interests of maturing rock fans, Rolling Stone magazine creator Jann Wenner has added a new publication, Family Life, to his growing list, which also includes Men's Journal. His newest effort hit newsstands this week with a $2.50 cover price. (A one-year subscription is $12.97.)"I like to publish magazines that I feel passionate about," Mr. Wenner says from the New York offices of his company, Straight Arrow Publishers Inc.Family life is a topic about which one would presume Mr. Wenner is passionate these days.

THE DEMOCRATS have put a "For Sale" sign on the White House. It was recently announced that if you give $100,000 to the party, you are entitled to two meals with President Clinton, to attend two events with Vice President Al Gore, to a spot on a foreign trade comission with party and business leaders and to impromptu meetings with various administration officials. Also, you'll get a daily fax report (I did not make any of this up).For $50,000 you can go to a presidential reception, have dinner with Al Gore and attend special policy briefings.

If Martha Stewart advised the Al Gore presidential campaign:Dear Mr. Vice-President, I once held a dinner party for 80 at which each guest wore a silver party tiara or bowler crowned with real ostrich feathers, all personally hand-crafted by me, and enjoyed a sunny Provencal-style bouillabaisse flavored with saffron, tarragon and fennel, prepared by -- you guessed it! -- Chef Martha that morning.So I think I know a little bit about pressure and the pressure you, sir, must be feeling as the presidential race heats up.Alpha male, beta male -- these are terms with which I am unfamiliar.

Say the word "depression" to a conservative and he'll probably think you're talking about the big "D," and launch into an interminable tirade about FDR and the evils of the social welfare state. When the smoke clears and you tell him that you're talking about mental illness, he'll proceed, without missing a beat, to launch into another tirade about Tipper Gore and the evils of the social welfare state. Because, as everyone knows, conservatives don't get depressed. Or if they do, they don't admit it, they don't take mind-altering drugs for it, and they certainly don't raise insurance premiums to treat it. They keep the Sabbath holy or go to confession instead.