Gore's future may be tied to Clinton's

Al Gore's aides were taken aback, and more than slightly annoyed, when on the evening of Aug. 17, they saw a CNN report depicting the vice president as hiding out in Hawaii. Even though the report included the caveat that Gore was on a long-scheduled family vacation, the vice president's aides quickly contacted the network's Washington bureau to convey his "110 percent" support for President Clinton as he testified before Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr.

Gore had spoken with the president "several times" since the start of his vacation on Aug. 11, said a senior aide, twice on the night the president addressed the nation about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

To further quash the "snippy references to the V.P. being in Hawaii," as one Gore official put it, the vice president went before television cameras in Hawaii the day after Clinton's testimony and speech to reiterate, in unequivocal language, his support and affection for the president: "I am proud of him because he is a great president, and I am honored to have him as a friend."

Afterwards, Gore aides expressed exasperation at the very idea that the vice president would do anything less than fully support his boss. "Every time something happens, the press puts this test to him, `Are you 100 percent loyal?' " said one. "I think their relationship speaks for itself."

For Gore, the loyalty test was an easy one. "The vice president always told me his relationship with the president was the 'currency of the realm,' " said a former senior Gore aide. "I think he's certainly internalized that principle, and I don't expect any change in that. This relationship is set in concrete."

That concrete relationship has always been Gore's chief asset as a potential Democratic presidential candidate. No president has been as open as Clinton in endorsing the idea that his vice president should succeed him. But now, what was Gore's great strength may become his great weakness. "If this turns into a debacle with Clinton, 2000 could be a tough year," confided one Democratic elected official who's been a longtime Gore supporter. "The other problem Gore will have is, how is he going to look like a fresh face with all these problems," said the ally. "Sometimes people just want to start over."

If Clinton is irretrievably damaged by the latest turn in his ethical woes, there isn't much Gore can do. Like other vice presidents, Gore's standing in the polls has generally been tied to the president's popularity. But the public has tended to view their characters differently, seeing Gore as more honest and trustworthy than Clinton.

Looking at the high standing that the president has maintained in the polls after his grand jury testimony, the vice president's advisers argue that Clinton will remain more of a help than a hindrance to their candidate in 2000.

"What the president and his team can provide to a presidential candidate is absolutely unlimited," said a senior Gore strategist. "He's one of the smartest politicians and leaders that our party has ever seen, and I think that regardless of any specific issue, he is a great, great asset."

Further, they argue, Clinton's scandal problems are uniquely personal, and the president's misconduct in no way affects the public's view of his vice president. A top Gore political ally in New Hampshire, site of the first presidential primary, said: "I don't think Al Gore's future is tied to anybody's personal life but his own."

But his fate could be tied to Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign. Although Gore's aides don't expect an independent counsel investigation will be triggered by his fund-raising phone calls, they admit that any probe of the campaign's finances could cast a pall over the vice president.

The scrutiny of such an inquiry could be devastating to Gore's ability to raise money for his own White House bid. "It would tie up the V.P. and all his money people," said a veteran party fund-raiser close to Gore. "It's hard enough to get people to give money, let alone when the Justice Department is looking at every check."

If Starr can prove Clinton committed perjury, or worse, Gore's steadfast backing for a president facing impeachment would be awkward, at best. "At some point you guys are going to put tremendous pressure on him to say what he thinks," said the Democratic fund-raiser.

In the short run, Gore needs to preserve unity in the party. On the campaign stump this year, the vice president has frequently contrasted the general concord on issues between congressional Democrats and the White House with the splits among Republicans on Capitol Hill. As Clinton's heir apparent, it serves Gore's interests to keep tensions in the party to a minimum, and thus deny potential rivals any fuel for mounting a challenge against him.

Gore's advisers hope that even if some Democratic lawmakers feel the need to criticize the president's personal behavior, most will remain loyal to Clinton's policy agenda and to the president as the leader of the party. A senior Gore official acknowledged that "dealing with the schism, people being of two minds, is something we have to pay attention to."

But if the president starts to cut legislative deals with Republicans in Congress in order to preserve his high job-approval ratings and keep impeachment at bay, congressional Democrats, who favor confrontation, not compromise, in the run-up to the midterm elections, could become disenchanted.

"Democrats [on Capitol Hill] are afraid of this aspect of Clinton and right now, Gore doesn't want there to be any daylight between them and the White House," said one veteran party strategist. "It takes away the opportunity of the vice president to be supportive of congressional Democrats and kind of leaves him sitting out there."

One former White House aide speculated that Gore may have to take on a higher profile in the looming battles that the administration faces with Republicans over appropriations bills. "If the president is weakened, his credibility to stand up and say 'these [Republicans] are bad' is going to be pretty thin," said the former Clinton official. "Can Gore step in and make the difference? I think that's one thing we've got to watch."

A senior adviser to Gore insisted that there were no plans for him to become the public face of the administration. "Our view is, the president will continue to have the authority to be a leader on the agenda the American people elected him to implement," said the adviser.

And Al Gore can do nothing but wait, and hope.