Gore Is Trying to Shed His Vice Presidential Persona By JEANNE CUMMINGS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL MANCHESTER, N.H. -- About a dozen Teamsters are shivering on their picket line outside the Overnite Transportation plant when an 18-vehicle motorcade barrels out of the evening darkness. Amid flashing police lights, Al Gore emerges from the exhaust fumes carrying two trays of cups and doughnuts. "I brought you some coffee," the candidate shouts over the roar of the engines. "Can I get a picture of you," Mr. Gore asks the strikers, whose union's backing is one of the last of two labor endorsements he covets. Tucking himself among the Teamsters, he helpfully suggests: "Hold those signs up!" After months of struggling with an oversized campaign, Mr. Gore has transformed his political operation into one that better reflects the candidate's style: lean, aggressive, driven and thorough. But no matter how many big-name advisers he manages to shed, Mr. Gore's quest to present himself to voters as just another presidential candidate is constantly butting up against the trappings of being the sitting vice president, like the bustling motorcade that startled the picketers. Heading Into the Last Lap And, as the campaign begins the last lap before the first critical votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, Mr. Gore's hard-fought Democratic race with former New Jersey Sen. Bradley could turn on his ability to free his candidacy from the very office and title that once were considered formidable advantages. Mr. Gore is well aware of the hurdles he faces, and he has chipped away at as much security and vice presidential paraphernalia as possible. His motorcade usually has only a dozen vehicles, and the Secret Service no longer holds up traffic at every highway ramp to clear his path.(Now, the agents just use their big Explorers or Suburbans to muscle drivers onto the shoulder of the road when they fail to get out of the way.) His staff no longer sticks the White House seal on his speaking podium, and sometimes he is introduced simply as "Al Gore," with nary a word about the vice presidency. Campaign Portrait: Al Gore ON THE ISSUES Proposes health-care expansion to cover every American child by 2005, primarily using tax breaks and widened eligibility for the federal Children's Health Insurance Program. Proposes spending $115 billion over the next 10 years for education improvements, including making preschool available to every child, increasing teacher pay in low-income communities and reducing class sizes. Would establish $1 billion fund to foster livable communities through redevelopment of older buildings and construction of new facilities such as parks. Calls for investments in mass transit and light rail to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality. ON AL GORE If you had to rely upon a single person as your foremost economic policy adviser, who would it be? Bob Rubin. What is your favorite television program? Futurama. How do you use the Internet and how often? Have you ever bought anything over the Internet? What? Everyday and for everything. I've purchased books and Christmas gifts online. If you weren't in politics, what field would you like to be in right now? Mr. Gore also is testing a campaign message that tries to borrow the best from both his worlds, as second-in-command and as a candidate. It goes something like this: He's proud of what the Clinton administration has accomplished, but believes more change is needed. As president, he will continue what is good -- say, the administration's economic policy -- and try to bring deeper change in areas that still need improvement, such as access to health care. In a recent interview, he said that "my primary identification now is [not as vice president, but] as Al Gore the candidate who is asking the American people for the responsibility of the presidency." A Touch of Confusion That may be what he believes, but it raises some confusion on the campaign trail. A typical day begins and ends in darkness, and every moment in between is accounted for in the four-by-six inch schedule, modeled after the one used on presidential trips. That little, powder-blue schedule is the first of many small reminders throughout the day that Mr. Gore isn't just any candidate asking for a new job. Take, for instance, his appearance before a business breakfast meeting in Bedford, N.H., called "Politics and Eggs." The yellow-and-white clapboard building is packed with about 150 guests, who, despite the freezing morning temperatures, aren't wearing coats. In fact, not a single person is wearing so much as a scarf. Why? The Secret Service wouldn't let them wear or carry them into the building. As is now his habit, Mr. Gore skips the use of the official podium and picks a position in the center of the room to offer unrehearsed remarks. His subject on this day is the economy and his candidacy. And so he starts with a joke about his five-month-old grandson and moves seamlessly to an attack on Democratic rival Bill Bradley's health care "scheme" and GOP front-runner Texas Gov. George W. Bush's "reckless" tax-cut plan. Subtlety has never been a tool much employed by Mr. Gore on the campaign trail, but the direct approach has its advantages. Mr. Gore is not afraid to ask for money or support, the two most important ingredients in a successful presidential campaign. Making an Appeal "My hidden agenda isn't very hidden," he says, in closing, to the breakfast crowd. If there's a Democrat in the audience, he wants his vote in the primary. "If you are a Republican, well, we'll talk later. I want you to vote for me in the general election, if I become the nominee." He makes the same kind of appeal to veterans, labor leaders, environmentalists and even a group of high school seniors who are gathered at the next stop to discuss school violence. At each event, Mr. Gore keeps his remarks to a minimum, which allows maximum time for audience questions. It is during this period that his aides hope their candidate's strengths -- experience and knowledge -- are on best display. With the high school kids, he rattles off statistics about teen smoking and then, without missing a beat, brings equal authority to a discussion on military pay. The vice president is also becoming more adept at working stories from his own life into these question-and-answer periods. With the teens, he reminisces about the first home he and his wife, Tipper, had in a Danville, Ala., trailer park, when he was a young Army recruit. And he fondly recalls a running argument he used to have with his father over the cause of the common cold. Mr. Gore's efforts to paint himself as a regular guy come at a time when most other candidates are desperately trying just to look presidential. But life on the road has taught Mr. Gore the pitfalls that come with his lofty status in the race. Premium on Personal Meetings In Iowa and New Hampshire voters put a premium on such retail politicking as handshakes and personal meetings. But both of those campaign staples become far more complicated when a media pack, several beefy Secret Service agents and a motorcade of dark, menacing sports-utility vehicles is hovering nearby. In addition, the Gore campaign's government-issued visual image undercuts the vice president's attempts to convince voters that he has an agenda that is more than just a continuation of the Clinton administration policies. For instance, the vice president's promise to bring "revolutionary" change to education seems incongruous when coming from a guy who just arrived on Air Force Two. Still, sometimes the perks of high office, such as a top-notch communications system, come in handy on the campaign trail. In the Gore motorcade here, the internal radio crackles out the news that the vice president wants to find out whether the attendees at a coming veterans event are wearing their American Legion hats. The report comes back from the "site person" at the event that a majority is without headgear. And, so, when candidate Gore breezes into the William H. Jutras Post #43 in Manchester, he can feel confident no veteran or voter is offended because he's not wearing any either. -- Everything on this earth has a purpose, and every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence. --Mourning Dove, 1888-1936 <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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