Gore Unleashes on Bradley

CENTER? Gore emphasizes personal responsibility

BROOKS KRAFT--CORBIS SYGMA FOR TIME

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NAJLAH FEANNY--SABA FOR TIME LEFT? Bradley puts the emphasis on government responsibilty and justice

TIME: Does it seem as though Bradley is looking to refight some of the battles that were fought in your party in the early 1990s?

Gore: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Fought and won--without his participation.

TIME: You say you feel you are finally "connecting"? What does that mean?

Gore: It's the result of total immersion. In past campaigns, in the final six weeks I felt something like that. It happened a year early this time.

There's another factor. As Vice President--it's been an honor to serve as Vice President for a full seven years--but anybody who serves as Vice President is honor-bound to advance the policies of the Administration and to try to help the passage of the President's policies. If you are faithful to that commitment, and somebody asks you a question about policy, you are going to spend a fraction of a second reflecting on the words you choose to make sure that you're moving the ball down the field on behalf of the team that you're a part of. That can come across as stiffness and inauthenticity. I'm not saying that's all of it. I think I have a formal manner. But the easiest thing in the world for me is just to react spontaneously and tell you what's in my heart about whatever you want to discuss.

That's what I did in the House and Senate, and that's what I'm doing now. That's another thing about these open meetings. They are completely unpredictable. You are operating without a net, and I like it.