Gore stays mum on running mate

Gore stays mum on running mate
Speculation mounts ahead of Tuesday announcement

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 6 — Al Gore, nearing "the end of the road" in his pick of a running mate, met Sunday with the head of his vice presidential search effort as attention focused on four Democratic senators. "I have not decided yet — but I will, and shortly," Gore told an audience of Democratic Party contributors in New York.

FORMER SECRETARY of State Warren Christopher, arriving in Nashville for the meeting, told reporters, "We're coming to the end of the road."

Christopher said he thought he and the vice president had conducted the search in "a professional manner, respectful of the people involved."

The discussions in Gore's hotel suite lasted just shy of two hours and also included campaign chairman William Daley and Gore's brother-in-law, Frank Hunger, who said there would be an in-the-family huddle when Gore's wife, Tipper, arrived later Sunday evening.

"He's not made up his mind," said Gore spokesman Chris Lehane, or at least not so that he's told his staff. "I can't interpret what he's thinking in his own head."

Gore planned an announcement on Tuesday in Nashville, a week before the Democratic National Convention opens in Los Angeles to nominate him and his running mate to face Republicans George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the fall.

FOCUS IS ON FOUR
Knowledgeable Democratic sources said four senators are Gore's leading prospects: Evan Bayh, 44, of Indiana, John Edwards, 47, of North Carolina, John Kerry, 56, of Massachusetts and Joseph Lieberman, 58, of Connecticut.

Kerry and Edwards are considered by most Gore advisers to be a cut above the rest, though that does not necessarily reflect the vice president's thinking, according to senior aides. A number of them touted Edwards' prospects, going out of their way to say his relative lack of government service would not be a problem.

The advisers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sunday that Lieberman and Bayh are still in contention. Two others on the short list, House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt, 59, and New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, 53, have said they don't want the job. Advisers say they have no reason to believe Gore, 52, will try to convince them otherwise.

TALK OF THE TV
Daley said Sunday that all the candidates on Gore's short list are highly qualified.

"They all have their strengths," he said on ABC's "This Week."

Daley dismissed any concern that Edwards, elected just two years ago, lacked necessary experience. Bush campaign spokeswoman Karen Hughes said Edwards pales in comparison to Cheney, who has worked in several administrations, including that of former President Bush.

"It's not about the resume or the pedigree," Daley said on CNN's Late Edition. "It's about what people stand for, what they fight for, and what their life experiences are about."

One of Gore's more biting arguments against Bush, however, is that his 5½ years as Texas governor is insufficient experience to run the nation.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota continued to tout Edwards' potential for the national ticket.

"I have no doubts that he could take the reins of responsibility," Daschle told NBC's Meet the Press. "I think it's the life experience you bring to the job. He has been a success story."

Daley praised Kerry's service in Vietnam and said he was confident that if the Massachusetts senator became Gore's running mate, Democrats would be able to win back the Senate seat in 2001.

Kerry, likely to be associated with Massachusetts liberals such as Sen. Edward Kennedy and former Gov. and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, could help Republicans paint Gore with a leftist brush.

Democrats also worry that Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew, could face voter prejudice, and Bayh could strike out against abortion-rights supporters because he opposes a procedure critics call partial-birth abortion.

Daley dismissed such concerns, calling Lieberman "highly capable" and praising Bayh as "one of the stars of the present and the future of the Democratic Party."

"Al Gore believes he's a solid person who proved as governor — in a state that's highly Republican — that he could not only win, but he could govern," Daley said of Bayh, adding that he's a man of character.

Daley refused to drop any hints about leading contenders.

WILD-CARD CHOICE?
Gore, who likes surprises, has been tantalizing reporters with talk of a "wild card" candidate. Advisers, however, say chances are slim that he will choose somebody apart from the publicized list.

At a series of Democratic fund raisers in the Hamptons, collecting more than $1.5 million, and in church, Gore commemorated the three-decade old Voting Rights Act and called for national hate crimes legislation.

"Just as we passed the Voting Rights Act 35 years ago, so now we should pass a national hate crimes act into law to embody the principle that most all Americans share — to speak out against the kind of hatred that often erupts into violence," Gore said at Christ Episcopal Church.

Bush opposes such legislation, saying current laws are adequate, despite several high-profile killings, including the dragging death of a black man, James Byrd, in Bush's home state of Texas.

Without mentioning Bush's name, Gore asked at an intimate Southampton fund-raising brunch: "How could people oppose a hate-crimes law in the year of James Byrd's death and Matthew Shepard's death or the others — the Jewish children in Los Angeles, the Hispanic and Asian-American men and women who have been singled out?"