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Playing hardball Here's the Windup. Here's the Pitch.By Rick Horowitz
KANSAS CITY, Any Day Now -- The hotly contested struggle for the White House took an unexpected turn here this afternoon, as Gov. George W. Bush of Texas threw the jagged fragments of a briefing book at his Democratic rival, Vice President Al Gore. The incident, seen live by a national television audience and then replayed dozens of times in the hours that followed, threatened to overshadow all other issues in the dwindling days of this excruciatingly close campaign. While party strategists on both sides tried to spin the strange episode to their candidate's advantage, analysts and pollsters considered its potential impact on undecided voters in key battleground states. It was the fight for precisely those voters that seems to have set today's events in motion. Mr. Bush and Mr. Gore had just emerged from their respective automobiles outside the suburban home of Nick and Mona Dithermore, eyewitnesses say, when tensions suddenly escalated. Taking up a position on the Dithermores' front lawn, Mr. Bush appealed for their support by characterizing the vice president as a "typical, big-spending, big-government Washington liberal." He then threw the names "Walter Mondale" and "Michael Dukakis" right at Mr. Gore's head. Mr. Gore, standing some 60 feet away, ducked the accusations, and swung a charge of his own: a new report that casts serious doubt on Mr. Bush's highly touted education record in Texas. The governor has long made that record a centerpiece of his campaign, and his opponent tried to use the new report to shatter Mr. Bush's can-do image. It was at that point, eyewitnesses say, that Mr. Bush grabbed Mr. Gore's heavy loose-leaf binder, which contained some of the report's sharpest criticisms, and flung it in his opponent's direction, barely missing him. Loose-leaf sections in hand, Mr. Gore then approached Mr. Bush, but campaign aides and Secret Service officers rushed in to keep the two men apart. No punches were thrown, and neither man was ejected from the Dithermores' lawn. "I couldn't believe he would do something like that," a subdued Mr. Gore told reporters after calm had been restored. "I just asked him what his problem was, and his answer didn't make any sense. Of course, I'm used to that." Mr. Bush, for his part, denied that he had been throwing anything at Mr. Gore, or that Mr. Gore's success in recent tracking polls had prompted his actions. As to his overall approach to making an electoral pitch, however, Mr. Bush was unapologetic. "I'm trying to work both sides of the state," he explained to reporters. "I'm just not gonna concede either side of the state, or any state, to him -- I'm gonna come in high and tight if I have to." Mr. Bush's allies, meanwhile, tried to downplay the matter. "It's just something that happens in the heat of competition," said Bush spokesperson Karen Hughes. "Some people have wondered whether George Bush has enough 'fire in the belly' to be president. Well, I think what they saw today should put those questions to rest once and for all." Not surprisingly, the Gore camp saw things quite differently. "An incident like this just goes to prove what Al Gore's been saying all along," claimed Gore spokesperson Chris Lehane. "Namely, that George Bush isn't ready to take on the demanding job of being president of the United States." Loyalists may have been quick with the sound bites, yet it seemed clear that the ugly confrontation came as a shock to both camps. Perhaps it shouldn't have, as the candidates cross paths more and more frequently these days in their desperate search for the votes that could make all the difference on November 7. Today, that search led both men to a peaceful suburban neighborhood -- and to a picture sure to linger long after the results are tallied. In the short run, though, fans of the give-and-take of politics have but one question on their minds: Is it a whole new ballgame? Posted
10/26/00. It's another championship season here at "Rick's" -- tell
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Rick Horowitz