The American Spectator

While McAuliffe believes the party is poised to practically sweep every major gubernatorial election — from California to New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and, if polls continue apace, perhaps even Florida — he is has grown increasingly concerned about the state of the House and Senate votes. To address those concerns, he’s pouring millions of previously unbudgeted dollars into Senate races in Texas, North Carolina, New Hampshire and now New Jersey. “The result is that we may be hampered in 2004, we’re spending so much now,” says a DNC staffer.

p> FIGHTING THE LAST GORE br> “Like a lost driver who won’t stop to ask for directions, the president clutches his old plan and continues racing in the wrong direction, farther and farther into the economic wilderness, with the fate of nearly 300 million Americans in tow.” Those were the words of Al Gore on Wednesday afternoon. He was speaking of President Bush, but he could just as well have talking about himself. /p>

Democrats, while publicly supportive of the Gore talk on economics at the Brookings Institution, privately said they were alarmed that after all of the criticism heaped on his left-leaning, class warfare politicking in 2000, he seemed incapable of moving past it.

“He’s never had a good ear for what the public wanted or needed to hear, and this was another example of it,” says a Democratic strategist who heard the speech.

In speaking with Democrats beforehand, Gore was advised, according to Capitol Hill Democratic sources, to try to make the speech as middle of the road as possible. Instead, Gore focused on criticizing Bush’s tax policies and joking about the White House’s Enron-style accounting.

p>”That wasn’t the speech we wanted him to make,” says a Democratic House member. “He didn’t ask for my opinion, nor should he. But if he did, I’d have told him not to speak at all. By his lack of specificity and constructive commentary, he’s not doing us any good. That’s our problem right now: all we can do is complain. We have no ideas, no solutions, no suggestions.” br> /p>