Democratic Convention: The Women Who Made Al Gore

Pauline raised a tough, pragmatic politician, but it took a life-altering family crisis to make Al see how much he had to learn from Tipper

By Karen Tumulty Monday, Aug. 21, 2000

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    But somehow she manages to do the thing Al seems incapable of: she touches people--in receiving lines, at high schools, on airplanes. During photos at this summer's Democratic blowout in Washington for 14,000 people willing to open their wallets, one woman suddenly burst into tears and began confiding her problems to Tipper, who took her aside for 15 minutes before returning to the receiving line.

    Watching her onstage with him, one cannot help wondering whether she really wants to be there at all. When she whips out her camera in the middle of a rally, as she so often does, is she preserving the moment--or distancing herself from it by becoming a spectator? And if he is elected, will she be pulled even further from the things that matter to her?

    It's a question that her friends have stopped asking. The things that matter to her are on the line in this election, and not the least of them is that "it's what he wants," says her friend Chris Downey. So if Tipper becomes First Lady, they say, she will do what she has always done. "She will take it, embrace it, do the best she can," says former aide Sally Aman. "And she will make sure that Tipper Gore the person does not get lost."

    POLITICAL ADVISER

    Because she has kept her distance, Tipper has been able at times to see what the campaign professionals cannot. And because Al trusts her judgment and motives in a way he doesn't trust other people's, she has been able to persuade him when others cannot. He describes their marriage as "a communion [that] just became a lot deeper and broader to the point where I wouldn't and couldn't consider a major life decision without her deep involvement."

    Tipper is no Hillary. In strategy sessions she takes notes but rarely speaks, campaign aides say. Nor does she try to shape policy, except in areas, such as mental illness, that are of particular interest to her. Instead, she frets over his schedule: Where's the sleep in here? Where's the exercise?

    If her influence is not always seen, it nonetheless makes itself felt. "It was always quite evident when she was unhappy about something," a former staff member recalls. The giveaway: Al would come into the office second-guessing something that had been decided the day before, saying "Are you sure we should be...?" And Tipper can also be what the ex-aide describes as "a blamer," reinforcing one of Al's own less attractive tendencies. Nearly everyone who has worked for him long enough has seen her anger, although they usually find it less unsettling than his. "He tends to brood," says a strategist from Al's early days in politics. "She has a quicker temper, in some ways, but she's over it."

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