Perhaps Looking Ahead, Gore Reflects With Regret

New York Times ^ | 6/29/02 | RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.

[kattracks]

EMPHIS, June 29 — Al Gore told top donors and fund-raisers from his 2000 presidential run today that he made a mistake by allowing himself to be too programmed and controlled by pollsters and consultants in the campaign, and he promised a much different race if he ran in 2004.

Mr. Gore, the former vice president, said he would make that decision next year. But in what some supporters viewed as another sign he was likely to pursue the nomination, Mr. Gore's wife, Tipper, and his oldest daughter, Karenna Gore Schiff, told supporters here that they wanted him to run again.

"If I had to do it all over again, I'd just let it rip," Mr. Gore told the group of 60 supporters at a breakfast speech this morning, according to a Gore aide who attended the private session. "To hell with the polls, the tactics, and all the rest. I would have poured out my heart and my vision for America's future."

Tonight, in a speech to members of the Shelby County Democratic Party, Mr. Gore indeed sounded like a candidate. He launched a new attack on the Bush administration, assailing its fiscal and foreign policy.

"Look at the Bush-Cheney budget plan, and tell me how is that different from the Enron profit and loss statement," he said.

He also criticized the course of the war on terrorism. "They haven't gotten Osama bin Laden or the Al Qaeda operation," Mr. Gore said. "They have refused to allow enough troops from the international community to be put into Afghanistan to keep it from sliding back under control of the warlords."

Before this weekend's retreat at the Peabody Hotel here, Mr. Gore had acknowledged privately to friends that his campaign was too wooden. But his comments today were the first public statement that his race relied too heavily on strategists and suffered from the public's perception that he was not more directly engaging voters.

The acknowledgment suggests that Mr. Gore is already trying to overcome doubts within the Democratic Party about whether he would be an effective candidate in 2004. Some in the party have expressed the hope that Mr. Gore would not run, believing a fresher face would have a better chance against President Bush. Some are angry about Mr. Gore's 2000 campaign or that he largely dropped out of sight after the Florida recount.

Other potential Democratic candidates have been raising money more actively in recent months, including Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, who is holding his own donor meeting in Georgia this weekend.

Without the advantage of running as the sitting vice president, Mr. Gore, who is writing a book with his wife, is under the same pressure as other would-be Democratic nominees to show that he can line up a cast of fund-raisers and donors. Some of the attendees at this weekend's retreat said they had been urged to attend the gathering.

Mr. Gore's comments were "exactly what everyone in the room wanted to hear," said Chris Korge, a Miami lawyer and businessman. Many longtime Gore supporters, Mr. Korge said, thought that in the 2000 race "he was too guarded, with too much strategy and too many consultants giving too much advice."

Peter Knight, a longtime top adviser to Mr. Gore, emphasized that Mr. Gore's comments "certainly were not an indictment of anyone" on the campaign. Mr. Gore, he said, was simply acknowledging that "there were mistakes made and that he had had some time to reflect, and that he had a great deal of faith in his instincts going forward."

After his private comments, Mr. Gore spoke briefly with reporters, saying he should have spent "more time speaking from the heart on a few occasions each week, addressing the major challenges of the country in-depth, and spending a lot less time going to media events and making tactical moves."

National polls indicate Mr. Bush retains a strong lead over Mr. Gore in a potential 2004 matchup. A survey of 1,201 adults conducted for Bloomberg News and released on June 20 showed Mr. Bush with a 56-to-32 advantage. Gore backers prefer to cite an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll from early June that showed him with a 58-to-12 positive-to-negative rating among Democrats.

Supporters here also sought to keep expectations low about Mr. Gore's fund-raising. Financial-disclosure reports on Mr. Gore's political action committee as well as PAC's set up by other potential candidates are to be made public in two weeks. "His focus has not been on raising money," said Mr. Knight.

At a dinner at a Memphis restaurant on Friday, Tipper Gore told supporters that she wanted her husband to run for the presidency in 2004, a Gore aide said.

This morning, Ms. Schiff, who is an adviser to her father, said she "would love for him to run again."

[kattracks]

So, what Gore is saying is that during his campaign, when he was being "sincere" he was actually being told what to say and do, and was simply following orders.

[Ciexyz]

The last hurrah.

[Savage Beast]

Hang it up, Al. Get interested in fishing or tracing your ancestors or something like that.

[Paul Atreides]

Al Gore told top donors and fund-raisers from his 2000 presidential run today that he made a mistake by allowing himself to be too programmed and controlled by pollsters and consultants in the campaign, and he promised a much different race if he ran in 2004.

Please, please, please let me run. Pretty please. Pretty please with sugar and a cherry on top. Oh, please, please, please.

[woofie]

Counting things would be nice....There are lots of creative ways to count

[DeFault User]

"If I had to do it all over again, I'd just let it rip,"

Not satisfied with excessive sweating, he now threatens us with flatulence.

[Paul Atreides]

Get interested in fishing or tracing your ancestors or something like that.

PETA won't let him fish and the tree-huggers won't let him take ring segments for his geneaology.

[Paul Atreides]

Is it me, or am I sensing some "it's all about me" and a sense of entitlement coming out of what Bore is saying?

[fporretto]

"From now on I'll be my own man" always has a funny ring to it. It begs the ultimate double-barrelled question, the one trial lawyers love: Were you lying then, or are you lying now?

If Gore were to capture the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, I think Dubya would put him away, perhaps as thoroughly as Reagan trounced Mondale. The country is unlikely to forgive Gore for his sleazy machinations, outside the proper electoral system, in pursuit of an office he lost. His wooden-ness and general contempt for us lesser folks would be icing on the cake.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com

[mewzilla]

Does Algore also regret attempting to disenfranchise our armed service members of their right to vote?

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

So I guess Donna Brazille, Naomi Wolf and Karenna Gore Schiff gave him bad advice and that's why he lost. The next time we're going to see "the real" Al Gore. I think the electorate is going to be way too confused with all the different Al Gores and just not be able to remember which one(s) they like and which one(s) they don't like. It shouldn't be that hard - if there was just one Al Gore, it would be much easier to make a decision.

[kattracks]

Does Algore also regret attempting to disenfranchise our armed service members of their right to vote?

AlGore is innocent. The devil made him do that.

[morjon]

Like the rest of you, I despise AlGore...but let's not forget how close he came to be in the WH...All it will take to put him there in '04 is a half-assed viable run from a 3d party candidate that splits the vote just a teensy bit, and that is what scares hell outta me!

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

So, what Gore is saying is that during his campaign, when he was being "sincere" he was actually being told what to say and do, and was simply following orders.

The Sgt. Schultz of the Democrat Party.

"I vuz juz followink orders! The Nazi Left Ving told me vat to say."

"Actually........I know nothinggggggg.......nothingggggggggg!!!!!!!!"

[SteamshipTime]

Yep, he's been stewing over the election night and day for two years and has gotten the bit in his teeth.

Al the Repressed Homo rides again!
(He's tanned, rested and ready)

[CIB-173RDABN]

If he could not win with all of the advantages of being in office, what in the world would make him think he could win with out them?

Fair or not, President Bush can control the agenda as we swing into the 2004 election. Nothing I have seen so far would indicate to me he will give his opponents anything (just look at the minor dust up when the Republicans announced their convention plans).

I believe the Democrats are running out of "tricks". All the old tried and true stuff is no longer working, the problem is they worked so well for so long, they have not thought up any new ones.

Run, don't run Gore, you are so pre- 9/11.

[Paul Atreides]

And, the article just wouldn't be complete without hearing from Karenna.

[Numbers Guy]

His comments about the budget and the war are petulant and childish. They're aimed directly at the small minority of people who think Dubya is the focus of evil in the world. Those people applaud. The swing voters are appalled. It may be a way to win primary votes, portraying the President as corrupt and incompetent in the war, but it will totally turn off the general electorate.

One could compare him to Mondale, except Mondale had a far more intelligent strategy (even though it failed): He argued that Reagan was right on some important issues, that he had done what was needed, and that it was time to move in a new direction. Given that the economy was growing at 6%+ in 1984, Mondale didn't have a chance no matter what he did, but his approach was far more intelligent than Gore's current strategy.

[ChadGore]

Re: "I'd just let it rip"

Gore did himself, his party, and his country a great diservice when he displayed his delusions of grandure in FL.

STATESMAN (putting the needs of the country abov and beyond the needs of yourself and party) is a concept completely foreign to the current DNC leadership, including Gore.

During impeachment, the nation needed a STATESMAN in the DNC to tell clintons overblown ego that the nation would not look kindly on a party that defends the indefensible.

When this happened to Nixon, the RNC HAD SUCH A STATESMAN at the head of the RNC (GB Sr.) and he stepped up, and told Nixon the nation would not look kindly on a party that defends the indefensible. The nations interests were served by Bush Sr. doing what was right for his country, and BAD for the RNC.

After November 7th 2000, the nation needed a STATESMAN inside the DNC to tell algores overblown ego that the nation would not look kindly on a party that defends the indefensible. A STATESMAN in the DNC to explain to him that not conceeding after loosing over and over and over and over and over was not serving the countrys needs. Instead, Dashle and Gepardt did press conferances for Gore, Daily persued partisan strategy, and the nations needs were not served.

Now little al wants to come out blathering like a pimply-faced-poster on DU ??!?!?!

I say, let him flail alone.

[Paul Atreides]

Gore is just flat-out nuts. He makes grandiose, bogus claims, and when confronted with the truth, he backpeddles and claims he didn't say it. He used his sister's death as campaign fodder and tried to sound like John Lithgow from Footloose when talking to the unions. Combine that with his idiotic environmental views (where's HIS electric car?), and you have a real nutcase.