GORE MONGERING
Apparently not satisfied with the damage he wrought upon himself by
speaking about Iraq, Al Gore will venture into Washington’s
Brookings Institution on Wednesday for what his people are terming
“a major address” on the U.S. economy. According to Gore staffers,
while he may not utter, “Are you better off now than you were two
years ago?” to the eggheads and media elites who have booked seats
for the event, the theme will be front and center.
“This was the DNC’s idea to put him out there on the economy
given the media play we got on the Iraq speech in San Francisco,”
says a Gore adviser. “The fact that the DNC was pushing us should
give you an idea of Gore’s standing in the party.”
Sure, the Prowler will concede that the DNC may be pushing Gore,
but toward what? A cliff?
As reported last week, Democratic Party leaders are looking for
any number of ways to jettison the former presidential candidate to
clear the way for more electable and appealing candidates in 2004.
Those ways range from pressing his former running mate, Sen.
Joe Lieberman, to perform a verbal coup de
grâce to, apparently, letting Gore orally do it to
himself with these “major addresses.”
Gore probably has little to no standing in the Democratic Party
judging from his performances on the stump and for Democratic
candidates. He has himself raised almost no money to funnel to
candidates: this past quarter saw him dole out less than $75,000 to
Democrats. And there is grumbling among many House Democrats that
Gore has declined invitations or backed out of commitments to
attend individual candidate events across the country.
“By our count he’s attended maybe ten events total for us, and
he’d promised us he’d be front and center to help us win back the
House,” says a House Democratic fundraiser. “And he’s given
practically nothing in the way of cash.”
Those events he did attend for were mostly for former aides or
longtime friends running for the House. In some cases, Gore’s wife
Tipper attended in his stead. Still, ten events in a critical
election cycle is paltry by any standards.
STUDIO MUSCLE
Former President Bill Clinton is at it again with
his Hollywood types, but in this latest round there is reason for
some Republican concern. Before heading off to Africa with movie
stars Kevin Spacey and Chris
Tucker, Clinton stopped in on the set of Terminator
3 to spend some time with future California Republican star
Arnold Schwarzenegger. “We were joking that he
probably showed up thinking he’d see the naked female Terminator
that’s in this movie,” says a cameraman on the film.
Clinton and Arnie spent some quality time in the actor’s
trailer, apparently talking shop about the Austrian muscleman’s
foray into Golden State politics. This year he’s backing a
statewide initiative to fund better physical fitness programs for
school kids.
“I’m praying that Clinton wasn’t advising him on anything else,”
says a political consultant doing some work for Schwarzenegger.
From L.A. Clinton, Spacey and Tucker were off to South Africa.
Tucker, a comic actor best known for his second-banana roles to
Jackie Chan and Bruce Willis, has
been spending lots of time with Clinton in both L.A. and New York.
According to several Clinton confidantes, the former president
enjoys hanging out with the younger actor because of the many
models and young actress types that he attracts. Maybe the former
president can get them a role in the next Terminator.
