The American Spectator

p> ON THE SPOT IN FLORIDA br> In the wake of the Florida Democratic Party convention last weekend, national party chairman Terry McAuliffe returned to Washington telling colleagues that he saw little hope for Democrats beating Jeb Bush in Florida. This, after McAuliffe watched the performances of Democratic gubernatorial candidates Bill McBride and Janet Reno . “He thought they both looked mediocre, and this event was designed to rally the ground troops to win the big one down here,” says a Florida Democratic Party board member. “Neither inspired confidence that we can beat Jeb.” /p>

McAuliffe’s downbeat take on the Sunshine State, though, has to be weighed against his enthusiasm for his party’s national chances down the road. Attendees in Florida reported that presidential hopefuls Sens. John Kerry, John Edwards, Joseph Lieberman and even Christopher Dodd all performed well. What’s more, each spent time politicking with the grass roots folks.

The same cannot be said for Al Gore, who spent little to no time with state party officials, angering many who expected him to use the weekend to try to reconnect with people who felt he let them down last year during the great recount fight. “Maybe he just doesn’t want to relive it,” says a delegate to the state event. “He just didn’t seem interested in spending more time here than he absolutely had to.”

Clearly, though, Gore saw the Florida convention as a tool to get him back in the campaign groove. Sporting a new hairstyle designed to cover up an ever larger bald spot in the center of his head (“It kind of looked like a modified combover from front to back,” says one convention attendee), Gore rallied the troops, but also made sure his performance was picture perfect. “We videotaped it and we’ll be sending it out to donors around the country to let them see for themselves that Mr. Gore is ready to roll,” says a Gore staffer.