AL GORE NEWS
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GORE HAS ANOTHER JOB AT A FINANCE POST
11-19-2001
Former Vice President Al Gore has added another job to a full plate of academic and political engagements. Starting today, he's the vice chairman of a Los Angeles-based securities firm, Metropolitan West Financial Inc.
Gore will spearhead the private equity firm's strategic planning in biotechnology and information technology, according to a company press release. The part-time position will be compensated, but company officials and a representative from Gore's public relations firm declined to say how much he'd make. The company has its hands in a range of asset management activities, though it makes much of its money by lending stocks borrowed from other companies.
"For nearly 25 years, I have worked on business and economic issues from the perspective of a public servant engaged in public policy," Gore said in a statement. "I am eager to learn more about business as an active executive of this dynamic and community-oriented company."
During his 2000 presidential run, Gore often sheathed many of his policy proposals with potentialy anti-business overtones, while still trying to convince voters that he stood against big business and profiteers. Now, though, he has joined a firm founded by a former top manager at fallen junk bond purveyor Drexel Burnham-Lambert. At least of one MetWest's principals, managing director Lorraine Spurge , was a top aide to Michael Milken , whose name become synomous with the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s.
Still, the move isn't too surprising for longtime Gore-watchers who have been wondering how the family, which isn't terribly wealthy and has a son at Harvard, has been making do since Gore left office. In January of 2001, he became, in essence, a traveling professor and an occasional speaker. As former vice president, he does receive a yearly stipend from the federal government He is also working on a book with his wife, Tipper.
Gore's duties in his new capacity are vague and flexible enough to enable him to continue teaching at Fisk and Middle Tennessee State universities in Tennessee(maintaining that beachhead in his home state, which he lost in 2000 ), and at UCLA . He'll also continue to live at home in Alexandria, Va. And, presumably, he'll keynote the occasional political function.
Gore and CEO Richard S. Hollander met this spring through intermediaries, a MetWest official said. After a series of meetings, they reached an agreement on Gore's position within the past month.
"As I began to look at MetWest Financial and acquaint myself with its business and culture, the one thing that stood out is the talent and integrity of its executive leadership and staff," Gore said in the statement.
Founded in 1992 as an offshoot of Bank of America, MetWest Financial bills itself as a securities lending firm with a pro-growth, pro-entrepreneur conscience. It does a lot of business with fixed-income clients. Some of the managers used to work for savings-and-loans bugbear Drexel Burnham Lambert; Hollander worked for Drexel from 1984-1988. Managing director Lorraine Spurge sold bonds under Michael Milken's direction from 1983 to 1989. In 1996, Spurge founded a company with Milken's backing.
Other managers, like former California state finance director Russell Gould, are cronies of former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.
As of October 31, 2001, MetWest managed more than $51 billion in assets. The firm made national news in August 2001, when it helped finance a new national athletic training center at Stanford.
The firm doesn't have any obvious ties to prominent Democrats. In fact, Hollander gave $1,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee in 1996, according to FEC records.
Gore's new job was first reported in Monday's Wall Street Journal.
GORE UNCERTAIN ABOUT ANOTHER PRESIDENTIAL BID
9-3-2001
Former Democratic Vice President Al Gore, who narrowly lost last year's disputed presidential election to Republican George W. Bush, said on Monday he is uncertain about whether he will run again for the presidency in 2004.
``I don't know what I'm going to do in the future,'' Gore told a crowd of about 220 Democratic activists at a downtown Minneapolis hotel.
When dozens of people in the room began applauding, Gore said, ``I wasn't begging for that response. I really wasn't.''
Speaking at a rally for Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, who is running for re-election, Gore joked about life after the vice presidency.
``Not all of this transition is easy. They let other cars on the road when I drive,'' he said. ``What's with commercial air travel?'' he also quipped.
Although he did not mention President Bush by name, Gore did make a veiled reference to his former opponent.
``Remember one year ago when people were saying, 'Well, you know, our country is headed in the right direction.' What are they saying now?'' he said.
Reporters were barred from the room where Gore spoke and had to listen to his speech on loudspeakers. Asked why journalists had not allowed into the room, Randy Schubring, a Sayles Belton spokesman, said: ``The Gore people want him to emerge slowly.''
Dressed in a blue suit, white shirt and red tie, Gore appeared every bit the candidate, with one exception: his beard. Asked how long he planned to keep his new look, Gore replied, ``Until I get tired of it.''
AL GORE'S A GRANDPA AGAIN
8-25-2001
Al Gore's second grandchild was born Thursday morning in New York City to his oldest daughter, Karenna Gore Schiff, his aides said.
The 7-pound, 8-ounce baby, named Anna Hunger Schiff, has an older brother, two-year-old Wyatt.
The Gores have four children and two grandchildren.
``Mother and baby are well and, along with the whole family, are happy,'' said Kiki McLean, a Gore spokeswoman.
Gore's wife Tipper was already in New York for the birth and Gore immediately traveled to the city to be with his family.
The baby's middle name comes from her uncle, Frank Hunger, Gore's brother-in-law and widower of Gore's sister Nancy.
GORE SEEKS TO GET YOUNG INTO POLITICS
By Karin Miller-Associated Press Writer
8-12-2001
Although each is perhaps best known for twice failing to win the presidency, former Vice President Al Gore and former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander tried Saturday at a bipartisan workshop to persuade young adults to get involved in politics.
The daylong, invitation-only event at Vanderbilt University was Gore's first appearance at a public political event since he conceded the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush.
Some political analysts said Gore's involvement suggested he was "testing the waters" toward another presidential campaign. A recent CNN-Gallup poll found Gore leading a list of potential nominees for 2004.
Gore wasn't saying, but this week he is leading a weeklong "summer camp" for young Democratic political activists, also in Nashville.
And on Saturday he promised he would be involved in 2002 elections in Tennessee, where he vowed to mend fences after losing his home state last year.
"We're keeping the focus on young people," Gore said when asked about the 2004 race as he and Alexander, a Republican who was education secretary under President Reagan, walked by reporters on their way to lunch with the 100 young Democrats and Republicans -- some still in college, others seasoned campaign workers in their 30s.
"We wanted to do this thing together to inspire these young people of both parties to be more involved and more active," said the former vice president, who won his first race, for Congress, at age 28.
Alexander told The Associated Press when he arrived that the event was meant to "help young people learn political skills but to be more than political warriors -- to practice politics with civility and respect for others."
In addition to Gore and Alexander, the panels on issues ranging from grass-roots organizing to political advertising featured political heavyweights including former Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile and strategist Carter Eskew, and Sen. John McCain's former adviser Mike Murphy, who is now working for the president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
John Geer, a Vanderbilt political science professor who specializes in presidential politics, said Gore's involvement in the two events may signal that he is "testing the waters to see how receptive the Democratic Party is to another Gore presidential campaign."
But Brazile and Eskew said Gore has long been interested in involving more young people in politics.
Murphy said that if Gore really were trying to crank up his political machine, "he'd be giving this speech in New Hampshire."
Eskew said Gore and Alexander "disagree on most issues politically but have remained good friends for years, proving you can be political adversaries but still compromise and do business."
Both Gore and Alexander have written books and both plan to return to college campuses to teach this fall.
PEOPLE ARE STILL GOOFING ON HIM, BUT GORE SIGNALING A COMEBACK
By Dick Polman-Knight Ridder Newspapers
8-5-2001
He racked up more votes last year than any previous Democratic presidential candidate, he drew half a million more than his Republican rival, and he might be ensconced in the White House today if not for the butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County. Yet people are still goofing on Al Gore.
The Onion, a satirical website, has a trick photo of a couch-potato Gore guzzling ice cream. Comic Craig Kilborn quipped last Monday that Gore has no hope ("he ordered Chinese and didn't bother to open the fortune cookie"). And columnist Arianna Huffington jokes that Gore spends his days typing his name into Internet search engines and counting the hits.
But all gibes aside, Gore appears to be signaling that he still wishes to be a player, that his lifelong thirst for the top job has not been quenched, and that he has not intention of simply ceding the next party nomination to the less-seasoned wannabes who are already in the hunt.
Within party ranks, there isn't necessarily a great outcry for another Gore candidacy - on the contrary, many activists wince at the notion. But there is a widely shared expectation, among friends and foes, that the former vice president will soon emerge from hibernation and map a methodical return.
Democratic strategist David Axelrod said: "The people in the party who don't like him are living in fantasyland if they refuse to see him as a formidable candidate next time.
"He'll really have to fight for the nomination. But remember, he just ran the closest, most competitive race in a generation, and a rematch with George W. Bush would be a compelling story line."
Lots of Democrats don't relish that prospect, however. It's not uncommon these days to hear activists ask each other, in mocking tones: "Are you going to join the Al Gore juggernaut?"
Tom Pazzi, another party strategist, said there is a "reasonably widespread" feeling among activists that Gore blew a winnable election last November. And another consultant, citing conversations with grassroots Democrats nationwide, said privately: "I don't know anyone who is bringing Gore's name up. I mean, zero. Zippo."
Amid all this chatter, Gore is a private citizen for the first time since 1976. He lost his Secret Service detail on July 20, the same day he opened an office in Nashville, Tennessee. Next Saturday, he is slated to conduct a political workshop for young people at Vanderbilt University. He'll teach this autumn at two other Tennessee colleges, give a few lectures at Columbia and UCLA, and perhaps deliver his first substantive critique of the Bush administration.
He has told party leaders that he wants to campaign for Democratic congressional candidates. He has accepted an invitation to campaign this year for Democrat Jim McGreevey in his race to become New Jersey governor. He also plans to raise money for those candidates. And his current message to activists and donors, transmitted by inference at recent reunion meals and in thank-you notes, is simple: Hang loose.
Several top Gore loyalists have already defected to other Democratic hopefuls, notably Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, but most seem willing to indulge Gore's desire for a slow reentry - at least until January.
Alan Kessler, a Philadelphia lawyer and key Democratic fundraiser, spoke with Gore recently. He didn't quiz Gore on his intentions or timetable, and Gore didn't offer anything. Kessler didn't mind.
Kessler said the other day, "Gore has more lag time than the other candidates, right now, because he doesn't have to work to build a base of supporters. On the other hand, if he is not (committed) by the end of the year, there's a danger that some of his old supporters may not be there for him anymore" - because they might be tempted to sign with Kerry, Connecticut Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, or North Carolina Senator John Edwards.
But some Democrats question whether any New Gore would fare better than the old. History suggests he would not. Only twice in the last 104 years have the Democrats nominated the same challenger for successive races - Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956, and William Jennings Bryan in 1896 and 1900. They lost all four, each faring worse the second time around.
"Rank-and-file Democrats might embrace that concern," said strategist Axelrod. "But there is also no historical precedent for the kind of election we just had, and the way Gore lost. That changes the equation a little in any rematch with Bush." And none of the presidents who lost the popular vote - John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison - served more than one term.
Gore's defenders also insist that his campaign charges against Bush have proved to be correct, that Bush's energy and environmental policies have indeed unmasked him as a friend of the corporate special interests and that, as a result, Gore could face the voters next time with a sense of vindication.
First, however, he would have to win the party nod. And unlike last time, when he was vice president, he isn't likely to lock up an early endorsement from the AFL-CIO. That could be significant, because labor puts serious manpower into the early primary and caucus states. Labor was a key factor last year when Gore beat Bill Bradley in Iowa.
Richard A. Gephardt, D., Mo., the House Democratic leader, is taking early readings on a 2004 bid. He has stumped in New Hampshire already. Unlike Gore, Gephardt believes that free trade is a threat to American jobs. And that's why Pazzi, a strategist with ties to labor, said, "For the unions, Gephardt is a much easier sell than Gore is."
Other factors could dictate whether Gore has a future. Pazzi said: "His fate may well be influenced by how well Bush does (over the next year). If Bush is strong, Democrats might think, 'Gore didn't get him last time, so why would he be able to do it now?' But if Bush is weak, they might think, 'Let's give him a second chance to get it right.'"
There's also a new Clinton factor. The ex-president is staging his own re-entry - witness his Harlem bash last Monday - and intends to become the titular party leader. Gore may not be viable unless he and Clinton can settle their reported feud over which of them deserves more blame for the 2000 debacle.
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