By The Prowler on 10.23.02 @ 12:15AM
Literally, as he would say, weightily. Plus: AFL-CIO cash and delivery.
HE AIN'T HEAVY
Are you ready for lots of heaping platefuls of Al
Gore? Because that's what's going to be on the media's
menu in the coming weeks. Gore intends to sit down with ABC News'
Barbara Walters in mid-November. He'll give her a
tour of the new home he purchased down in Tennessee, and discuss
his failed presidential run and presumably more personal matters,
such as his weight-gain, his bloating problem, and so on. According
to an ABC News producer in Washington, Gore has agreed to discuss
anything and everything, including his relationship with
Bill Clinton. (Which doesn't mean Barbara is
prepared to discuss hers with Fidel Castro.)
After the Walters show, Gore will undertake huge media blitz, in
part to publicize a book he and wife Tipper
supposedly wrote together (no word on who the ghoster or "editor"
is). But beyond his attempt to make some money off a book is his
attempt to turn around the Democratic establishment's perceptions
that he's a weakened presidential possibility in 2004.
"He's going to be all over the place, TV, radio, newspaper
features. The hook is the book, but more broadly he wants to get
his base energized again for his 2004 run," says a Gore adviser in
Washington. "He's aware of what people at the DNC and on Capitol
Hill are saying about him. He's sensed the apathy for another run
out on the road. He's looking to turn it around."
He's also apparently using his TV appearances as motivation to
lose weight. "He'll have his wedding ring on when he sits down with
Walters. He's been working out real hard," says the adviser.
RENEWED LABOR
The AFL-CIO, convinced that its TV ads weren't getting anywhere
with voters, is focusing its energy and millions of dollars on
get-out-the-vote initiatives in California, Missouri, Florida,
Massachusetts, Michigan and Illinois. Two years ago, those
union-sponsored get-out-the-vote projects could be directly tied to
the victory of Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow
in Michigan, where the unions and Democrats pooled their resources
to defeat Sen. Spencer Abraham.
"They're trying to replicate that success elsewhere this time,"
says a Democratic National Committee staffer. "We're suggesting
staging sites, but they're really doing this on their own. We know
it's only going to help us, we aren't worried at all."
DNC officials expressed some concern that Big Labor's cash
wasn't going to help with expensive media buys in some urban
centers, according to the DNC-er. But those concerns were put to
rest after the officials saw the AFL-CIO's plans for its ground
attack.
topics:
Bill Clinton, NATO, Energy, Unions
