How Gore's Campaign Went Off the Rails

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The even harder task may be Eskew's. Hired by Coelho to fix the message, he faces the challenge of convincing voters tired of Clinton that a Gore presidency would amount to something more than Clinton's third term. Gore has spent most of the year laying out proposals that are both bold and unconventional, but they have been smothered in windy speeches and 20-point plans. The tactic was one that Penn used to great effect in Clinton's 1996 campaign: polling a raft of proposals, then tying together the ones that tested safely above 80% approval. The approach worked for Clinton, but it seemed to diminish Gore, who had come to the Clinton Administration with a reputation as a visionary. "The biggest single strategic mistake we have made is putting him out there early with all these ideas," says a Gore adviser. "Almost nobody was listening. They want to know who he is."

So once more, Gore is starting over. Working the final draft of his health-care plan, Gore rejected eight of the 13 options laid before him and made a headline-grabbing promise in early September to ensure that every child in America has health insurance by the end of his first term. "This is the kind of change people want!" he told his aides. But in a campaign that has already seen several new starts, Gore seems to realize that this may be his last chance. "It's really a race," he told a friend last week. "Now we've got to go in and win."

--With reporting by John F. Dickerson/Washington