Gore Takes Campaign on the Road

DES MOINES â€”  With a once-potential rival on board, Vice President Al Gore made his first official campaign journey Monday, lifting the curtain on the course a Gore administration would set in the years after the Clinton presidency.

“Stand with me,� he urged enthusiastic supporters as he touched critical political bases in New Hampshire and Iowa, sites of key early skirmishes in the presidential campaign. “Stand with me, ladies and gentlemen, and we will work together to create an America in the 21st century of which it will be written 1,000 years hence: ‘This was the greatest nation.’ �

House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.)--once considered Gore’s most formidable possible competitor for the 2000 Democratic nomination--was at the vice president’s side the entire day. Their policy and political differences swept away in the quest for party unity, Gephardt endorsed Gore, giving him a welcome political--and demonstrably physical--hug.

Throughout the day, Gore talked about health care, education and the safety of U.S. streets--the issues he now routinely focuses on as he travels around the country. He never mentioned President Clinton in the speeches he delivered in Manchester, N.H., or Des Moines.

While Gore is the heavy favorite to capture his party’s nomination, he confronts the same dilemma that has confronted previous vice presidents as they have sought the White House. That dilemma is how to differentiate themselves from the popular president they have served, giving voters reason to look at them anew without dismissing the accomplishments of the outgoing regime.

Gore has approached the challenge not by proposing a shift from Clinton’s course, but by suggesting policies that would amplify commitments the administration already has made.

In education, Gore said, he would seek enough public school teachers to reduce class sizes all the way through high school. That would expand on Clinton’s proposal--blocked last week in the Senate--to reduce class sizes in the early grades by hiring 100,000 new teachers.

Likewise, Gore said, as president he would seek to guarantee access to preschool education for all children. That would build on the increase in funding that Clinton has won for Head Start and other preschool activities.

Gore also has signaled that he is willing to wade back into the worst policy quagmire of Clinton’s presidency. Without offering a specific proposal, he has indicated in recent appearances that he will pursue measures to broaden access to health care for the uninsured.

In New Hampshire, Gore’s discussion of health care drew the most applause of any topic he addressed. But it also hinted at one of the central tensions he will face in his campaign.

In health care, as in education, Gore is responding to the demands of Democratic primary voters for new government initiatives. He may also be responding to pressure from his one announced rival--former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey--who has criticized him largely from the left and has indicated that he will offer his own plan to expand health care coverage.

But Gore has made clear that he is reluctant to abandon the commitment to fiscal discipline that Clinton has established as a cornerstone of his electoral appeal to swing voters in the general election.

“Stand with me,� he said Monday, “and we will not only balance the budget this year and next but every year.�

In the months ahead, Gore can expect to be questioned about how he will square that pledge with his promises for potentially expensive new programs.

As if to move further toward establishing an identity independent of Clinton without discounting past victories, the vice president on Monday cited the arrival of the millennium as “a time for new beginnings.�

“The historic victories of the civil rights movement� of the 20th century, he said, “will merely set the stage for one America in the 21st century.�

Similarly, the gains women made in the 20th century will be the foundation “for real equality for women in the 21st century.�

While Gore has made numerous other trips to New Hampshire and Iowa, Monday’s stops with Gephardt were the first for which his campaign committee paid the bills. Even so, Gore is not likely to declare his candidacy formally for another six months, his aides have said.

In the meantime, Gore plans to raise money aggressively and consolidate his support within the party. Gephardt’s endorsement was a major step in that process.

Over the last six years, Gephardt repeatedly dissented from many administration priorities, most significantly on economic issues. He led the battle against the North American Free Trade Agreement that Clinton pushed through early in his first term and opposed the welfare reform and balanced-budget legislation that the White House and congressional Republicans agreed upon.

Given these policy differences, Gephardt had been expected to run as the tribune of liberals who believe that Clinton and Gore have steered the party too far away from its traditional approaches.

But Gephardt has worked more closely with the White House over the last year--particularly in resisting the GOP-led drive to impeach Clinton--and on Monday his differences with the administration were swept aside.

“We must make our fight to make Al Gore the next president of the United States,� Gephardt said in Des Moines.

Gore summed up their relationship this way: “We fought--almost always on the same side.�

Gephardt announced in early February that he would not seek the Democratic presidential nomination--in part because he is in line to become House speaker if the party can win control of the chamber in the 2000 vote. He told the vice president of his support privately a week later at lunch, aides said.