(6 of 6)
As for Gore, the first few months after the election were a time for the shock to settle in. "There was this sadness in his eyes that gave me chills," says a former aide. Gore turned the corner that summer, when he gave up his Secret Service protection and took a six-week European vacation with Tipper, the longest break of their 32-year marriage. Incognito under beard, baseball cap and sunglasses, Gore finally relaxed, and "by the time I got back from that vacation, I was pretty much over it."
He thought he might take his first step back into the arena in September, at the Iowa Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, where two years earlier he savaged Bill Bradley as lacking the heart to "stay and fight." But Sept. 11 intervened; instead of the battle cry Gore might have delivered, he praised his former opponent as "my" Commander in Chief. Now some Democrats are wondering why Gore didn't stay and fight. For most of the past two years, he has withdrawn inside a tight circle consisting largely of aides and friends from his days before the White House. He has been trying on occupations--college professor, author, businessman, even adviser to Google--that might suit someone of his temperament had fate not made him the only son and namesake of a U.S. Senator.
The moneymen and the party elite are cool to him now, but that could change quickly if he enters the race: everyone loves a front runner. Meanwhile, the field is coalescing quickly. Massachusetts Senator Kerry says he will decide soon, though everyone figures it's a done deal. House Democratic leader Gephardt just shed that title, presumably to begin preparing for a campaign. Edwards last week gave a well-received economic address, part of the North Carolina Senator's effort to prove he is more than a pretty face. Vermont Governor Dean is showing an insurgent John McCain--like appeal. And Gore's running mate, Connecticut Senator Lieberman, vows not to run if Gore does but is laying the groundwork for a campaign anyway. "If he decides to change his mind, that is entirely his right," Gore says.
At the White House, there is an ongoing parlor game to rate Bush's possible Democratic challengers in 2004. Political guru Rove figures union support will give Gephardt the nomination. Another Bush adviser says Edwards' charisma and experience as a trial lawyer enable him to confront Bush's coziness with business. Yet another views Kerry as the toughest potential rival: "The people who assume we can kill Kerry are the same people who thought Bill Clinton was a hick who couldn't win." They all but dismiss Gore. But then their boss is living proof of the power of low expectations.
And though Gore may seem like a long shot, there's some history worth recalling. In the final hours of the 2000 campaign, Gore startled an aide aboard Air Force Two with the observation that, if he ran again in eight years, he would be about the age of Richard Nixon when he finally won. Nixon, after all, was then the last Vice President to lose a close one. --With reporting by James Carney and Michael Weisskopf/Washington