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Nervous times Gore Is Sore. GOP Can't Stand Pat.By Rick Horowitz The Wizards of Winning will tell you straight out: Lagging behind is a pain in the behind. Guess what? Being ahead isn't all it's cracked up to be either. Consider the sad case of Mr. Albert Gore and Mr. George W. Bush. Or more to the point, consider the ever-more-annoying presence -- to Mr. Gore and Mr. Bush, that is -- of Mr. Bill Bradley and Mr. Pat Buchanan. Bill is running. Pat may walk. And they're getting in the way. Gore and Bush are looking for new housing for January of 2001. White housing, as it happens -- some lovely piece of property in downtown Washington, ideal for state dinners and rose-garden ceremonies. Not to mention leadership of the free world. And wouldn't you know it? Gore and Bush have got their eye on the very same piece of property, that appealing little spread at 1600 Pennsylvania. Bush has the inside track -- his Daddy used to live there, you know -- but it's early yet. Gore and Bush have been assuming they'll battle it out for the keys to the place from now till Election Day, head to head, mano a mano. So what's the deal with all these extra manos? Here's Bill Bradley, steady as he goes, calm-approaching-comatose, filling up the space in Gore's rear-view mirror. He's got bizarre star quality; for a dull guy, people find him fascinating, which is lots better than the other way around. And he's an alternative. For Democrats who want a Democrat without the slightest whiff of the Clintons, he's the only one still standing. Here's Pat Buchanan, all outthrust chin and attitude. He speaks fluent soundbite, and he loves to get under people's skin; sometimes he even makes them bleed. In his spare time, he picks at their scabs. For certain Republicans who think Bush has the nomination in his pocket and a much-too-squishy spot in his heart, Buchanan may be the only way to keep their views front-and-center (front-and-right, actually) straight through November of 2000. Bradley looks totally serene as he edges closer to Gore in this or that poll, swipes this or that endorsement out from under Gore's nose. Gore says it doesn't bother him. Right. This isn't supposed to be happening; Gore knows this in his bones. He's the incumbent vice president and times are good. For his party's nomination, at least, it was supposed to be a cakewalk. So why does he feel like he's slipping on the icing? Buchanan looks thoroughly pumped as he edges closer to abandoning his party. (He'd argue that it was the other way around, of course, that they abandoned him.) If he takes a third-party run at 1600 Pennsylvania, it could mean big trouble for Bush, just the way Ross Perot meant big trouble for Bush's Daddy back in '92. This isn't supposed to be happening again -- Bush feels it in his gut. So why this sudden cloud on his horizon? Bradley flies his grin at half-staff; he seems to find the whole underdog thing oddly amusing. Gore has his grin on autopilot these days; he looks like a man who's trying very hard to look like a man who's enjoying himself. Buchanan knows he's rubbing people, even longtime friends, the wrong way; he couldn't care less. Bush professes nonchalance about Buchanan (and everything else). Bush's people, worried wobbly about Buchanan, say they're "surrounding him with love"; they leave it to other Republican biggies to let him know he's dead meat if he leaves. He may leave anyway. And on top of everything else, there's the stumble factor. The folks in front have to stand up to constant scrutiny. If they make a mistake, people hear about it -- naturally the other guys look good! Besides, the other guys aren't making many mistakes of their own. Bradley hasn't claimed that he invented the jump shot. Buchanan actually knows the names of all those foreign countries, even the little ones. (He doesn't like them, but he knows their names.) As long as Bradley and Buchanan don't mess up, they're still out there. Still a problem. The Wizards of Winning know it's early yet. The nomination could still turn out to be easy for Gore. The election could still turn out to be a breeze for Bush. Compared to a month ago, though? Not so easy, not so breezy. Posted 9/17/99. Fresh
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Rick Horowitz