Word: veep
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...Gore's underwear remains a secret after his stint on MTV's (and TIME's) "Choose or Lose" 2000 Forum, in which an assemblage of 150 college-agers in Ann Arbor, Mich. (yes, that's a swing state), got to very slowly pepper the veep with whatever questions they'd gotten past the show's producers. Gore, strutting on the stage like a frontrunner, came through fine - well-spoken, well-read and reasonably cool. If there was no shining moment, there was also nothing in the performance to burst his current bubble...
...move's immediate lesson is that when it comes to political expediency, Al Gore has nothing on his boss. Richardson denied any intended benefit for the aspiring veep, and indeed, not only does the decision positively dwarf Gore's Thursday proposal for "several" 5-million-barrel swaps, any benefits for goosing heating-oil stockpiles are unlikely to show up until well after the election. So the administration's it-was-Bill's-idea announcement, with Al Gore nowhere in sight, may help protect the veep against George W. Bush. But it doesn't make the precedent any less shocking...
...postprimary campaign obscured the fact that by any historical measure, he never should have been that far ahead in the first place. While Gore did help himself with a buoyant convention and a focused message, he is also helped as people begin to pay more attention and discover the Veep is not quite the stiff they thought he was. He not only has an edge on the issues Americans say they care most about, from education and the environment to Social Security and Medicare, as of last week he had even caught up in the popularity contest, edging past Bush...
...looming debating season. "This guy is a very good debater," the governor said of his opponent Thursday. "I hope I'll be able to hold my own." Americans may well feel sympathy for anyone forced to debate against wonkish Al Gore, but that won't help Bush beat the veep. Swing voters who're not yet convinced to vote for Bush aren't worried about his affability; they want to see him lay to rest the impression that he may be a lightweight not equal to the task. Forewarning voters that he expects to struggle in debates against the vice...
...hand combat on Gore's wonky turf, and issues have not been his best weapons. For this year's voters, Bush's tax cut seems too big and his Social Security privatization seems too bold. Bush is selling change and Gore is selling incumbency, and now that the veep has made himself at least a believable president, incumbency may be starting to look good...