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But as much as she makes the case for him in public, Karenna is usually more effective offstage. Asked about her, the first thing the Vice President praises, before her "passion for social justice," is her political skills. "She has nearly perfect pitch," Gore says, beaming. Indeed, at 22, in a room full of White House advisers, Karenna came up with the best line for Gore in his debate against Jack Kemp: "If you won't use any football stories," Gore said, "I won't tell any warm and humorous stories about chlorofluorocarbon abatement." This time around, she has helped develop lines like "The presidency is not an academic exercise," which Gore used to nail Bill Bradley in the primaries. She tweaks Gore's speeches and debate answers, always pushing him to speak plainly and with heart. One of her key contributions, says her mother, is that Karenna doesn't "soft-soap it." Her father recalls an occasion when all the hired hands told him he'd given a great speech. Karenna waited until they were gone. "Dad," she started, "it wasn't a great speech."
And she sometimes offers her father a sense of how things are playing in the real world. In March Gore created a fire storm when he broke with the White House to support permanent residency for Elian Gonzalez, a move seen as pandering to Florida's Cuban vote. At first the campaign stonewalled the press, hoping the problem would "just go away," as a top adviser put it. "[Karenna] said, 'You need to explain this.'" About a week later, Gore went on the Today show. Though it failed to undo the damage, it did take some of the bite out of the daily coverage.
Usually spouses and children are dreaded by campaigns, not so much as bulls but as jackasses loose in the china shop. Karenna has been savvy enough to cultivate warm relationships throughout Goreville, from top advisers to state operatives. She has offered herself up as another avenue for staff members who don't believe their voices are being heard. "She always tries to communicate that it's safe to talk to her, that she's not going to rat on you," says a senior Gore aide. Says another: "I hear people say, 'Let's fax a copy to Karenna.' 'Has anybody talked to Karenna about this?'"
Where her father can be wooden and diffident, she is warm and immediate, with a face that looks better without makeup. When her father reached out to shake her hand at her May law-school graduation, she pulled him into a hug. Gore may be known to some as "Prince Albert," but his eldest child is known for never putting on airs. She's the kind of person who, Michael Kinsley, editor of the online magazine Slate, recalls, did not mind doing scut work as an editorial assistant.