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His rivals these days are depicting him as Senator Thunderbolt. Gore has supported the U.S. naval presence in the Persian Gulf, the invasion of Grenada and the bombing of Libya. He opposes the proposal by most of his opponents for a ban on missile flight tests. He says his centrist views make him more "electable" than the other five Democrats in the race, particularly Michael Dukakis, who opposes almost any use of American force abroad as well as virtually all new nuclear weapon systems.
Last week at debates in Florida and Washington, Gore stepped up his strategy of accentuating his differences, provoking his opponents to leap on him after he implied they were engaged in the "politics of retreat, complacency and doubt." Richard Gephardt accused him of "pandering to the right wing of our party." Said Paul Simon: "I don't think it helps any of us to be knifing each other." Such criticism, said Gore's campaign manager Fred Martin, is a "sign of Al's success."
Gore's strategy of combining distinctiveness and plausibility is working. James Johnson, who ran Walter Mondale's 1984 race and who so far this year is on the sidelines, says, "Gore has passed a threshold of being a credible contender." Some prominent Republicans agree. Says Bill Brock: "While following Al Sr.'s liberalism on a lot of issues, Al Jr. is able to present himself as a mainstream Democrat. He'd be a good, tough candidate in the general election." The leaderships of the Hart campaigns in New Hampshire, Illinois, Florida and Washington State have come over to the Gore camp virtually en masse. In the seven debates to date, Gore's combination of self- assurance and command of substance has helped him overcome the misgivings about his age and inch upward in the polls. He is so pleased with his performance that he has added a new line to his stump speech: if elected, he vows to challenge Gorbachev to debate ideology and foreign policy.
But before taking on the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gore has at least 14 more debates to go with his fellow Democrats, followed by what could be a donnybrook of a convention in Atlanta. Last week he was working his way through the South, heading from there to New Hampshire. Then on to Iowa, where he hopes to find the crowds warmed up by -- who else? -- his father. Albert Sr. has been vigorously campaigning there as a surrogate for his son. By this week he will have hit all 99 counties in the state, giving his hillbilly speeches to elect his boy to the White House.