The American Spectator

p> AL SHOW NO-SHOWS br> Al Gore ‘s road trip to sunny Florida didn’t turn out the way perhaps he hoped. While his audiences were generally polite and supportive, leaders of the state Democratic Party were pointedly less so. Some in fact boycotted the events Gore was attending. /p>

“How can a guy who ran for president and other offices be such a lousy people person?” wondered one Palm Beach County Democratic operative. “This is a guy who never came back to us after that debacle a couple of years ago, never thanked us for the hundreds of hours we devoted to saving his sorry ass, never called, never wrote. Then he shows up in 2002 like it all never happened. He’s useless.” (But what does he really think?)

Never mind Gore’s lousy personal touch. Perhaps his political timing is even worse. Here he was expecting to be the center of attention, showing the kind of leadership a national candidate would exhibit after an important primary, but instead finding himself shunned by state party hacks who would do anything to avoid reminders of the 2000 debacle. Several high-ranking state and local operatives skipped the Gore events, telling reporters they wanted to focus on more positive party news. Like gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride.

“McBride is the real deal,” the Palm Beach Democrat says. “We’re much more excited about him than living in the past and worrying over real and perceived slights and injustices. Gore would do well to take that advice. If he did we wouldn’t have to worry about him in 2004.”

DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe is so excited about McBride he’s expected to trot out a Florida Democratic Party poll claiming McBride is within five points of Gov. Jeb Bush Don’t believe it. Every responsible poll, even from the Bush-hating Miami Herald, has the guv ahead by double digits.

p> BRILLIANT TOM br> Using a speech that was vetted by everyone from the aforementioned McAuliffe to staffers in Democratic House leader Dick Gephardt ‘s office, Senate Majority Leader