Gore beats Bush to McCain

Al Gore has met with Republican also-ran John McCain, Reuters reports, and the vice president said the two covered crucial political ground in the impromptu chat at the Gores' residence. "We talked a little bit about how we can build support in both parties for campaign finance reform," said Gore, who has made praising McCain a campaign policy since the primaries. "I plan to talk to him further."

After returning from Vietnam, McCain quickly accepted the vice president's invitation, a marked contrast to negotiations for the Arizona senator's on-again, off-again summit with George W. Bush. However, the Associated Press reports that the Texas governor should expect a McCain endorsement. Still sounding less than thrilled at the prospect, McCain said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that it would be wrong for him to withold his support from Bush solely on the basis of campaign finance reform. "I would be litmus testing him, and I don't think that's appropriate for me to do," McCain said.

Gore asks Bush: Ready or not?

The Los Angeles Times reports that Gore continues to keep his promise to beat up Bush on policy and experience. The politics of personal destruction, however, are still off limits in his campaign, Gore said. "I like to focus on the issues, not personal attacks," said the vice president. "I leave that to [Bush]." In addition to criticizing Bush's "risky tax scheme," Gore has added foreign policy to his shots at the Texas governor on the environment, health care and education, hoping to contrast his credentials with those of Bush. "I think that a lot of people are asking that question: 'Does he have the experience to be president?'" Gore said in an interview. "It's not for me to answer," he added.

Bush shaky on foreign ground

Gore made his first major foreign policy address of the campaign, according to the Washington Post, and, to no one's surprise, the speech bashed Bush. Calling his own international relations strategy "forward engagement," Gore mocked Bush's foreign policy as borderline isolationist. "He suggests that he would not intervene to relieve even the brutal repression of ethnic cleansing and genocide," Gore said. "No wonder it took him six weeks to say anything about our action against the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo." Gore also accused Bush of being "stuck in Cold War mindset," particularly in dealings with Russia and China, which Bush views, Gore said, "primarily as present or future enemies" instead of "vital partners in our efforts to tackle problems menacing to us all."

The Bush campaign wasted no time in responding to the vice president's criticism. The New York Times reports that Bush advisor Condoleezza Rice attacked Gore's speech even before he delivered it (using an advance copy of his remarks). Largely credited with bringing Bush up to speed on foreign policy, Rice dismissed Gore as a latecomer to the issue, singling out his positions on Russian and Chinese relations as hypocritical. "Where was he when it was time to stand up and be counted in Seattle?" Rice asked, referring to the World Trade Organization proceedings that failed to start a new series of global trade talks. Rice also questioned Gore's involvement in Russian policy, calling him blind to the corruption that has crippled that nation's transition to democracy. Said Rice, Russian officials whom "the vice president was calling 'reformers' were stealing the country blind, with the money going into Swiss bank accounts."

Beating Dubya by the Bush book

Gore is taking a page out of former President Bush's book in his attacks against the presumptive GOP nominee. According to a New York Times analysis, George the elder was precisely in Gore's position when he faced Michael Dukakis in 1988. Bush had bid to succeed a charismatic two-termer and was faced with a little-known governor more centrist than his party and credited with turning around his state. By the end of the race, Bush had discredited the "Massachusetts miracle" and portrayed his rival as an overreaching novice. By dissecting the Texas governor's home-state record and belittling his foreign policy experience, Gore is repeating the Bush strategy and hoping that Americans will trust him to stay the course on the Clinton economic recovery. In that spirit, Gore's campaign ads will tells voters, "Al Gore is ready. Is George W.?"

Kinder, gentler campaigning

Less than a week after promising a return to civility on the campaign trail, Bush needled Gore at a talk-radio conference, the Los Angeles Times reports. Mentioning the recent anniversary of Gore's infamous Buddhist temple fund-raising visit, Bush quipped, "It's an amazing fund-raising act where you can convert poverty into wealth. Nevertheless, I know he couldn't make it [here] and I'm sure he's celebrating this occasion in private."

Rudy's rickety race

Rudy Giuliani's decision about continuing his Senate race against Hillary Rodham Clinton has caused much fretting in Republican circles, and with good reason, according to New York Newsday. Newsday's analysis acknowledges that cancer treatment might humanize the prickly Giuliani, but it could also put him out of commission during the key fund-raising season. Furthermore, Newsday asserts, even sympathetic voters might balk at voting for someone afflicted with a potentially fatal illness.

But the current GOP choices should Giuliani drop out are not confidence inspiring. Newsday finds that potential successors, including New York Gov. George Pataki and Rep. Rick Lazio, lack the drawing power, the money and the time to face down Clinton's formidable campaign. Even sick, Newsday concludes, Giuliani is the best possible candidate for the GOP in New York. Republican leaders "wish for him a speedy return to good health. From a political point of view, though, they're praying that he's up for the race."

Rudy rival on the right

Not all Republicans are jumping on the Giuliani bandwagon. The New York Times reports that former Rep. Joseph J. DioGuardi will vie with Giuliani for the support of the Conservative, Independent and Right-to-Life parties in New York. DioGuardi says that a race between pro-choice, pro-gay-rights Giuliani and a like-minded Clinton leaves the family-values crowd without a real choice. "We have two social liberals in the race, said DioGuardi. "There's a clear need for a conservative alternative." In response to charges that his involvement in the race would only pave the way for a Clinton victory, DioGuardi denied being a spoiler. "I'm in this race to win. That might spoil someone's day," he said.

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