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It's not surprising that Gore did what he did, because he has a gift for bringing defeat out of victory.

It's a bit more surprising what Daschle did. Daschle is a fool, but I thought he had realized that hammering Bush on this issue is a mistake, and that he was ready to swallow his medicine and find some other issue.

I don't imagine Daschle cares whether Gore self-destructs, so he couldn't have been backing him. The only way I can account for his behavior is that his left-wing Senate troops headed by Nancy Pelosi forced him to do it, maybe threatening an open split if he didn't throw in with them.

He evidently prepared carefully for the big speech with the news media, because it was obvious that they had pre-planned the campaign for maximum impact, especially with all that talk of the "normally soft-spoken" Daschle speaking with such unusual fire.

Still, I think Morris is right. It can't fail to backfire.

Whatever the reason, Daschle's hissy fit yesterday was the last desparate attempt by a Democrat leader to generate traction for any of their issues in the coming election. Like all other attempts, it failed.