The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 2)

p> WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT br> According to an adviser to Al Gore , the former vice president has locked in on the man he views as his main competition for the 2004 Democratic nomination, and it isn't John Kerry or Tom Daschle . It's John Edwards -- but not because Edwards is viewed as the most imposing threat to Gore's 800-pound gorilla status. It's because Edwards, either willfully or not, seems to be cultivating and drawing Gore supporters wherever he goes. /p>

While Gore met with backers in Memphis, Edwards's own retreat with donors and supporters in South Carolina last weekend was hosted by former Gore financial backers. In Iowa, Edwards is bringing on board a number of former Gore supporters and organizers, and in New Hampshire recently, Edwards was connected at the hip, politically speaking, to state Sen. Caroline McCarley, who was a key supporter and state organizer for Gore in 2000.

"We aren't trying to cherry pick Gore's people," says an Edwards adviser. "But what are Gore's people? He was the party candidate in 2000. Apparently, if you go by Gore's definition, every Democrat in the country was a Gore person. Using that criteria, we'd be left with no one."

"In the political arena, John Edwards barely registers among Democratic voters across the country," says the Gore adviser. "For voters, Lieberman, Kerry and Gephardt probably are more serious threats to Gore's standing and presidential aspirations. Edwards is a flavor of the month. The problem with him is that he's peeling off ground troops we would count on in some of the early primaries and caucuses in New Hampshire and Iowa And that's just a headache."

But not a debilitating headache. Gore's people remain confident that a mix of strong-armed tactics and political promises will bring the turncoats back into the fold.

p> CARRYING THE DAY br> With every Democrat from Al Gore to John Edwards to Dick Gephardt holding retreats and seminars and hand-holding sessions to better get to know donors and the size of their wallets, and telling people they are the one to beat President George W. Bush in 2004, it's no surprise that Republicans are hitting back. /p>

Bush has a heavy domestic travel schedule in the next ten days, from West Virginia to Ohio to Wisconsin, and plans to hit just every state important to Republicans in the coming months at least twice before October. "We'll be everywhere we have to be," says a White House political staffer. "The Democrats can send out all kinds of presidential wannabes. We have the real thing, and that counts for something."

And speaking of counting, the RNC, in conjunction with its state party apparatus, is starting to trickle out polling numbers that make GOPers feel awfully good even if the numbers won't mean a thing a year or two from now. Over the weekend, a few Southern state parties released polling data designed to embarrass local pols who think they can knock off the GOP leader.

In North Carolina, native son Edwards wants to challenge Bush? He'd lose the Tarheel State by almost 20 points -- 59 percent to 40 percent. Deeper south, Edwards fares even worse, losing in Georgia by a whopping 42 percent. Gore? He'd again lose his home state, Tennessee, but this time by 25 percentage points.

Some Republican pollsters think that Gore at the top of the Democratic ticket in 2004 would lose as many as 40 states, a huge swing compared to the nailbiter in 2000. "For all the talk Gore is doing, there aren't a lot of people who seem interested in seeing him run again," says a Republican pollster in California. "These numbers are way too early, but it gives the Bush people something to look at and set the bar at for the coming two years."

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