When Al Gore told the Democratic Leadership
Council to go ahead without him, his spokesman explained that the
failed presidential candidate had a “prior commitment.”
The real reason Gore spurned the DLC’s New York conference, as
the Prowler reported
Monday, was that he was given no assurances he would headline the
event and he didn’t want be part of a cattle call of Democratic
presidential hopefuls. He was particularly concerned about being
lumped onto the same schedule with Sens. John
Edwards and Joseph Lieberman.
A scheduling conflict can, of course, mean many things. It could
mean that Gore had a hair appointment (for what’s left of it). Or
perhaps he had a master class to teach at his political-geek summer
camp at Vanderbilt.
But Gore, in fact, had nothing on his schedule beyond a mid-week
reunion in Washington, D.C. with a group of Clinton-Gore
administration alumnae at George Washington University.
So perhaps that’s why Gore might have looked at his Palm Pilot
calendar, and thought it a good idea to spend some time fundraising
for his PAC, or re-connecting with donors from the 2000 campaign.
What wasn’t a good idea was meeting said donors at a hotel in
midtown Manhattan on Tuesday within walking distance of the DLC’s
meeting place.
Inside the midtown Hilton where the DLC had gathered — and
where Hillary Clinton and John
Edwards teed off on President Bush and vowed to defend
moderate Democratic values in the coming election cycles —
conference attendees yesterday were abuzz with rumors that Gore had
been spotted dining at the nearby Regency Hotel.
“All I know is that he had conflicts with his schedule when he
spoke to the DLC this spring about speaking,” says a Gore
associate. “If he was in New York, I’m sure it was important.”
According to another Gore adviser, the man from Tennessee was
considering a drop-by at the Hilton, a kind of “I was in the
neighborhood and thought I’d come by to say hello.” But two things
stopped him.
First: his old pal Joe Lieberman’s blistering comments to
reporters last Sunday evening that Gore wouldn’t be missed, because
he wasn’t really DLC material to begin with and had betrayed many
of the DLC’s tenets in the 2000 presidential race.
Second: “It was the kind of thing Bill Clinton
would do,” says one of the Gore advisers. “And even though they’ve
patched things up, comparisons to Clinton are something Gore wants
to avoid.”
As for Lieberman, his comments didn’t exactly catch the Gore
camp by surprise. “We expected he’d be looking for a way to create
some breathing room between himself and Mr. Gore,” says the
adviser. “I guess I’m surprised that it took him this long to do
it. I hope Mr. Gore holds him to his promise up until the very last
minute.”
That “promise” refers to Lieberman’s pledge to not seek the
Democratic presidential nomination if Gore was seeking it as well.
After his little on-the-record chat in New York, it’s pretty clear
that pledge isn’t long for this earth.
Another enjoyable sidelight to the DLC’s New York meeting,
besides the “What did Al have for lunch?” guessing game, was the
press conference held by Al Sharpton, who
expressed hurt that the DLC excluded him from its panel of
speakers.
“What the hell is he talking about?” asked a DLC staffer. “I
don’t even think he’s on our mailing list.”
But if nothing else, his little show gave the Democratic Party’s
site selection committee a snippet of what it can expect should the
party hold its nominating convention in New York in 2004.
“He wants a seat at the table,” says a DNC staffer. “Nothing
wrong with that, but going after the Democratic Leadership Council
and raining on its parade isn’t a smart way to get what you
want.”
