How Al Came Back To Life

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When Gore's campaign advisers convened for a strategy session at his Washington residence last August, they were steeling themselves to give the Vice President some bad news. For weeks Gore's inner circle--which at the time included Eskew, campaign chairman Tony Coelho, media strategist Bob Shrum and pollster Mark Penn--had been slowly coming to grips with the ugly reality. That day they laid it on the line: not only was Gore trailing George W. Bush, but Bradley was coming on strong too. The challenger's favorable ratings were rising nationwide, and he had the money to fight. When they told Gore he had a primary challenge on his hands, his reaction surprised them. "Thank God," he said. "That's what I think too."

Gore told TIME that as long ago as last spring, he had wanted to challenge Bradley to weekly debates. "I didn't do it because he was still far, far back in the polls," he said, "and because almost everybody whose judgment I respect reacted as if it was a very bad idea." But by August "it didn't come as any surprise to me when the dynamic began to reflect a very close race." In the meeting, Gore and his team agreed it was time to "engage" his rival. As a start, Gore would put out a health-care plan, since Bradley would soon be coming out with his. And Gore, who had been working hard in the gym to get ready for the race, had to get his bloated campaign staff--which seemed to spend more time on palace intrigue than presidential politics--into shape as well.

That task fell to Coelho, the wiry, intense former Congressman and backroom operator who had joined Gore's team in June. Coelho had been working to wrest Gore free from the office he inhabited. That was harder than it may sound. The Vice President's staff had such a tight grip on the candidate that top campaign officials sometimes couldn't get Gore's schedule. Coelho banished nearly all the White House aides from Air Force Two and froze out Gore's small army of ad hoc advisers--a dozen former aides who currently work as lobbyists, and showed up for weekly skull sessions with Gore. Now Gore and Coelho convened strategy meetings about once every three weeks, usually with a group of just six key players. After Tipper complained of being excluded, Coelho made sure she had a place at the table.