Al Gore delivered an impassioned confession Saturday, telling his most loyal followers that he lost the last presidential race because he was too scripted, too conflicted and too tightly controlled. And if he takes another run at the White House, he vowed, his own instincts will be his guide.
“If I had to do this all over again, I’d just let it rip,” Gore told a closed-door meeting of top donors who came here from across the country, according to several aides in the room. “To hell with the polls, tactics and all the rest. I would have poured out my heart and my vision for America’s future.”
In his most critical assessment of his 2000 campaign, in which he lost even his native Tennessee, the former vice president received a thunderous standing ovation after acknowledging that he paid careful attention to consultants and strategists but failed to directly convey his own thoughts while running against George W. Bush. The act of political contrition was the latest sign that Gore is positioning himself for another shot at the White House, a decision he said he would not make until early next year.
The Gore family played host for the three-day retreat for 60 supporters at the Peabody Hotel, where guests traded political stories, debated the state of U.S. politics and gauged Democratic candidates’ chances in this year’s midterm elections and the 2004 presidential race.
Gore stopped short of sharing his intentions with even his closest friends but gave repeated signals that he is inching toward a decision to run and pledged to “let the chips fall where they may” if he seeks the nomination again.
“I would spend more time speaking from the heart on a few occasions each week, addressing the major challenges of the country in-depth and spend a lot less time going to media events and making tactical moves,” Gore said in a brief interview with reporters.
Although he has delivered four major political addresses this year, Gore has had little contact with many campaign contributors since the election. Gore’s words were welcome to people like Sheldon Drobny of Chicago, who traveled to Tennessee to urge Gore to plan a rematch against President Bush.
“One of the things he missed in the last election was being himself,” said Drobny, an investment manager. “When you’re managed by people, you’re not sincere. And he does his best when he’s passionate.”
Supporters pumped up
The declaration of Gore’s political soul-searching and introspection energized the Democrats, who belong to an elite fraternity of donors and political advisers urging him to run again. They mused about Gore’s future over dry-rub barbecue and cocktails until the wee hours Friday and again Saturday over a fancy lunch.
But the business of the day was conducted behind the mirrored doors of the hotel’s stately ballroom, where Gore and his wife, Tipper, stood beneath a chandelier and talked without microphones, hoping to keep the support of the party’s financial stalwarts. Many of the guests have followed Gore closely since 1988, when he first sought the presidency.
Joe Cari, a Chicago lawyer and prominent party fundraiser, said Democrats are feeling a growing “emotional dynamic” toward Gore that was not present in the 2000 campaign. The former vice president is in a strong position to seek the nomination, Cari said, adding that he would be surprised if Gore did not do so.
Before Gore’s political future can be determined, though, aides said he first had to articulate the shortcomings of his last presidential contest, in which Gore narrowly won the popular vote but lost the presidency after an unprecedented monthlong legal battle for Florida’s electoral votes. So he faced the criticism head-on for the first time Saturday, trying to send a message to other Democrats that a third run for the presidency could be a charm.
“It makes your heart sick about what he could do if he were in the job,” said Gore’s oldest daughter, Karenna Gore Schiff, who conducted a panel discussion at the retreat. “It’s no secret that’s the job he wanted. He certainly has the sentiment of missed opportunities.”
Competition within party
Not all Democrats remain supportive of another Gore candidacy, however, and at least six other party leaders are exploring their own potential presidential bids and competing with Gore for money.
As Gore held his retreat here, Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) held a donor summit in St. Simons Island, Ga., and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) campaigned in Iowa.
“I don’t know if the American people or even if Al Gore knows who the real Al Gore is,” said a veteran Democratic strategist not aligned with a presidential campaign. “The whole notion of reinvention is something that dogs him. The real Al Gore could just look like another chapter in the reinvention book that has already been written on him.”
The Republican National Committee weighed in, too, releasing a recent poll that showed Gore would lose a rematch with Bush by 25 points.
Despite the president’s high approval ratings, Gore is intensifying his criticism of the White House. In a speech Saturday evening at the University of Memphis, he questioned the administration’s values and its stewardship of the economy.
“Their economic policies have been a total catastrophe for our country,” Gore told several hundred Democrats, testing themes for a potential campaign of his own. “They ought to tear it up and start from scratch.”
And for the first time, he also directly criticized the Bush administration’s war effort.
“No. 1, they haven’t gotten Osama bin Laden or the Al Qaeda operation,” Gore said. “And 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. It is a terrible situation over there right now.”
