On the day after the Democratic Convention, with Al Gore's bounce beginning to register in the polls, the mood in Austin, Texas, was one of unflappable calm. George W. Bush's advisers had predicted Gore's surge; now they were saying it wouldn't last. All Bush had to do, a senior aide said, was stay focused on his message and not let Gore goad him into a fight. "We need to keep from falling into the trap of looking at what they're doing and then responding."
Then Bush fell into that trap. His campaign script called for him to spend last week wooing...
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