As Albert Gore Jr. pondered whether to run for President this spring, he knew that it might be both too soon and too late. At 39, the freshman Senator from Tennessee would be trying to become the youngest person to win the nomination of either party since William Jennings Bryan in 1900. Yet to achieve that distinction, Gore would have to pass six other Democrats who were already running hard.
At a family caucus at his Tudor house in suburban Arlington, Va., his four children had their say. According to notes taken by Daughter Kristin, 10, they agreed on the No. 1 negative: "Dad wouldn't be here a lot." Karenna, 14, worried about his relative obscurity compared with the front runner at that time: "It would be hard to get more publicity than Gary Hart." Gore's wife Tipper was also torn. Co-founder of the Parents' Music Resource Center, an organization that opposes rock lyrics featuring sex, violence, drugs or alcohol, she was just starting a national tour to promote her book, Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society. "Especially with me already very busy and on the road," she recalls, "I knew it would be a sacrifice for the whole family if Al ran."
There was another generation to be heard from. The day before his self- imposed deadline for a decision, Gore went to his parents' apartment on Capitol Hill. Albert Sr., 79, is a white-maned, honey-toned orator and liberal populist who, as a Senator from Tennessee from 1953 until 1971, was widely venerated for having been a progressive on civil rights and an opponent of the Viet Nam War. He was touted as a possible vice-presidential candidate in 1956 and 1960. When his father made the case for running, young Gore played a combination of Hamlet and devil's advocate, dwelling on the negatives. His mother Pauline moderated. "Dammit," said her husband afterward, "I think he's talked himself out of it." But his son telephoned the next day: "Dad, it's go." Recalls Albert Sr.: "I knocked a hole in the roof with a Comanche yell." Pauline explains, "I think my son had to establish that it would be his campaign and that he'd be doing it in his own way." Jane Eskind, an admiring fellow Tennessee Democrat, observes, "Albert Sr. sees in Al Jr. the fulfillment of his own dreams."
To realize both his father's dream and his own, Al Gore is trying to set himself starkly apart from the rest of the Democratic contenders, much to their recent fury. With the decision of Dale Bumpers, Bill Clinton and Sam Nunn to remain on the sidelines, Gore became the only Southerner in the race, a fact he rarely fails to mention during his frequent forays through the region. When Gore is campaigning in Arkansas and Texas, his accent changes subtly as "my" becomes "mah" and "narrow" becomes "narrah." He also proclaims himself a "raging moderate," a distinction he has increasingly emphasized by challenging his opponents' dovish stands on defense and foreign policy.