Posted on 06/27/2002 6:30:49 PM PDT by Libloather
Tipper Gore makes herself clear: Al can run again
By JAMES W. BROSNAN, SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON (SH) - Although Tipper Gore became so despondent after Al Gore lost the presidential race that she checked with a doctor to make sure she wasn't clinically depressed, she says she would "love to see my husband run again" in 2004.
The doctor assured Tipper that she wasn't depressed - her reaction was entirely normal.
Now, if Al Gore were to tell Tipper that he wants another try, his wife would say: "Let's get going right now."
That's the message she plans to deliver to top Gore donors gathering for a closed-door conference with the vice president Saturday in Memphis.
"I know it's a huge undertaking, but I think it could be very exciting," Gore said in her first interview about the 2004 race.
"I think we would have the opportunity to really begin fresh with our own organization and way of doing things, which is very appealing to me in many ways. I'm certainly motivated by reading the paper and reading the Net and seeing what this administration is doing."
Tipper Gore's feelings about another race have been a question mark for Gore's longtime fund-raisers and Tennessee supporters. Several donors traveling to Memphis this weekend said they didn't know how she would react.
She was sometimes portrayed in 2002 as a reluctant campaigner. Her eldest daughter, Karenna Gore Schiff, often traveled with and introduced her father.
Tipper Gorer was uncomfortable saying, "I want to be first lady. It even sounds kind of weird." She would tell interviewers, "The campaign is not my life; it's part of my life and I suppose somebody could say, 'She doesn't like campaigning.' "
Gore, 53, said she was just balancing an active campaign schedule with her duties to her son and her mother.
"Somebody had to be home with Albert in his senior year in high school some of the time," she said. "My mother was ill and I was tending to her. I wish I could have done both of those things full-time. But I took myself away in order to campaign the amount that I did."
The Florida recount and the Supreme Court decision stopping the count left her "in a state of shock. It took me awhile to work my way out of that. I couldn't believe that the voting would be stopped."
Her mother, Margaret Ann Aitcheson, died in October.
"It was not a good year," said Gore, except for the birth of Karenna's second child, Anna Hunger Schiff.
At one point, Mrs. Gore checked with her doctor to make sure she wasn't having a repeat bout with the mental illness she suffered sometime after Albert was injured when hit by a car in 1989.
"I asked, 'Am I clinically depressed?' And she said, 'No, this is a normal response to what happens in tough times.' So I did check in. I was careful," said Gore, who is a longtime advocate for treatment and the rights of the mentally ill.
Exercise and a seven-week vacation with her husband to Spain, Italy and Greece helped her regain a better outlook.
Now that the four children are on their own, the senior Gores have more freedom to do things as a couple, including moving from their Alexandria, Va., house to Tennessee later this fall.
Last week, they bought a Georgian-style house on two acres in the Green Hills section of Nashville, more convenient to Gore's Nashville office than their farm in Carthage, Tenn.
Losing Tennessee "hurt tremendously, no question about it," Tipper Gore said. "But I think I also understand. It was very tough when you have a Republican governor and two Republican senators working extremely hard."
Earlier this year she decided not to run for an open Tennessee Senate seat even though her husband shaved his beard off to show support.
"I like him no matter what. It was fun. If he wants to grow it back it would be great with me," she said.
Many Gore supporters blame President Bill Clinton's conduct for the loss. But Gore said she and Al "get along perfectly fine" with the Clintons.
"We touch base every now and then. They're busy with their lives. We're busy with our lives," she said.
They also have a "total understanding," with the 2000 vice presidential nominee, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who has said he will not run if Gore runs but is organizing for a bid nonetheless.
Tipper Gore said her husband told Lieberman, "Go ahead and do what you need to do if you want to consider a race. If I don't run you'll be in a good position."
But it's evident when Mrs. Gore talks about President Bush that she would like her husband to have another chance.
"I feel so very passionately about so many of the issues that Al feels passionately about that I would almost welcome the opportunity for him to be able to run again and to be the voice for the values of a strong and coherent foreign policy and a domestic policy that helps people."
She said she and the former vice president are united behind the president on fighting terrorist attacks, but "having said that, that's about all I agree with."
"I'm disappointed on every level," she said, from environmental policies that say "let's mine and dump everything in the river," to homeland security warnings that don't "tell me what to do."
"I'm actually very, very angry about what's going on," she said. "So, yes, I would love to see my husband run again. If he chooses to do that, I am right there.
"Am I making myself clear?"
So was using bullhorns to kick 'em out of Cheney's house.
Should someone wanting to be the leader of the free world need permission?
Just so long as they don't lip-lock passionately again!
Yeah, she's sick of having him spend so much time at home....
To the first highlighted word: Doesn't she sound a little psychotic there? Isn't that like being "almost pregnant?"
To the second part: He had his chance to be part of a strong and coherent foreign policy, thanks in large part to him and his boss.. we are where we are today. Talk about helping people!! NOT!! With friends like them (Gorons and Clintoons).. who needs enemies?
"Tipper, please..please..please!! Can I run? I'll get you all the Cheeto's and Prozac you want! Please..please!!
Just think of it this way: We should be happy that this Beta Male is finally realizing what Clinton has a long time ago...the Alpha Male is Tipper.
Don't puke! It will ruin your beautiful face for a sorry excuse of a writer!
DON'T GO THERE GIRLFRIEND!!!!
Freudian slip. You meant to say "the counting," dear.
DITTO !!!
"Tipper... Dear? Sorry to bother you, but the chinese have launched a Nuclear Attack. Can I respond in kind or should I just issue a sharply worded rebuke?
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