March 5, 2001 

A Thankful Gore Clasps Donors Before They Stray

Mr. Gore assembled more than two dozen of the biggest donors from his campaign for a thank-you dinner at the home of Steven Rattner, a financier who is a major party donor.

But many of Mr. Gore's closest associates, including some who were at the dinner, said the event was not simply to reminisce. Rather, it was the most direct sign thus far that barely three months after he lost the White House, Mr. Gore is actively positioning himself for another try should he decide to run.

The purpose of the event and others that are planned in coming weeks, Mr. Gore's associates said, was to court these important fund- raisers, and put them on notice — without saying so explicitly — that they should not defect to other prospective contenders.

"Politically, if you don't thank people, they're not going to be there to thank the next time," said a donor at the dinner. "He's now quite active on the thanking front. There's no doubt he'd like to make a go at it. He thinks he won the election already. Why shouldn't he try to win it again?"

People close to Mr. Gore say he is hewing to a carefully calibrated strategy of lying low publicly so he does not appear brazenly political, while cultivating the people he would need if he runs again. They said it was no accident that he was teaching at Columbia University in New York, which puts him in proximity to major fund-raisers, or that he was mending political fences in his home state, Tennessee (which he lost last year), by teaching at Fisk University and Middle Tennessee State University.

"He feels as a political matter the smartest thing for him to do right now is to shut up, to get off the stage," said Jann Wenner, the publisher of Rolling Stone magazine, who was at the dinner.

Another dinner guest, John Catsimatidis, a businessman who raised as much as $4 million for the vice president last year, said he was "absolutely" convinced that Mr. Gore would run again. "There's no doubt in my mind about it," Mr. Catsimatidis said. "If you ask strictly my opinion, on a scale of one to 100, it's 99."

But people close to Mr. Gore say that once again, his ambitions are complicated by Bill Clinton. Some expressed concern that the obvious tensions between Mr. Gore and Mr. Clinton during the campaign — and in the immediate aftermath of the election — had solidified into a deeper rift between their followers that could hover over the party for years.

Even out of office, Mr. Clinton is affecting the political calculations of his former vice president. Some Gore backers are seething at what they describe as Mr. Clinton's disastrous exit, and some fear that it could give people yet another reason to turn to a fresh face should Mr. Gore decide to run.

"This pardon stuff cannot be helpful to Gore in the long run," said one Democrat who is a Gore confidant. "He's still the vice president of an administration that piled one scandal on top of another. Other Democratic candidates will just say it's time to move on from the Clinton- Gore years."

Other, more hopeful, Gore lieutenants suggest that Mr. Gore try to turn Mr. Clinton's latest political trouble into an advantage by using it as a reason for Mr. Gore to further disassociate himself from Mr. Clinton.

"You could build a case that it helps more than hurts," said Tony Coelho, a former California congressman who early on was Mr. Gore's campaign chairman.

Whatever the effect of Mr. Clinton, this much is certain: the tensions between the former president and vice president and their loyalists have only escalated.

Mr. Clinton, for one, was described by friends as still furious at Mr. Gore's pollster, Stanley B. Greenberg (who was Mr. Clinton's first pollster in the White House), for recently suggesting publicly that Mr. Clinton was detrimental to Mr. Gore's prospects.

"He heaps withering scorn on Stan," one friend said of a recent conversation with Mr. Clinton. "It's like a blow torch. I was surprised at how hard-edged he was. He feels that Gore didn't prosecute his legacy."

Mr. Clinton also unleashed his venom at William M. Daley, his former commerce secretary. After Mr. Daley told The New York Times recently that Mr. Clinton's conduct was "terrible, devastating" and "rather appalling," the former president wrote a several-page letter to Mr. Daley expressing his deep disappointment, people who know both men said.

Mr. Daley would not discuss the letter.

Many Gore lieutenants remain angry at Mr. Clinton for the manner of his departure from the White House. The subject came up among guests at the Gore dinner Tuesday night, several participants said, though Mr. Gore himself was careful not to discuss Mr. Clinton.

It was no accident that the biggest luminary in Democratic politics in New York — Mr. Clinton — was not invited. "If Gore didn't want to campaign with him for four months," said one Democrat who attended the dinner, "why would he want to invite him to the dinner?"

People who attended the dinner said Mr. Gore made brief introductory remarks, but no one quizzed him about Mr. Bush — or Mr. Clinton — as he mingled from table to table.

"There was no political pitch, no discussion of strategy," Mr. Wenner said. "All he would talk about was his book project with his wife, his teaching — and I asked him to discuss the environment a little."

Another participant said: "People weren't quite sure what to talk about. People knew it was unseemly to talk about Clinton. But they also thought it was unseemly to talk about Bush. So, after a long pause, they talked about the environment."

The turbulence between Mr. Gore and Mr. Clinton has left openings for other ambitious Democrats to begin angling for the White House themselves. The most active behind the scenes is Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who has already hired a fund-raiser, Robert Farmer, who ran Michael S. Dukakis's wildly successful fund-raising operation in 1988.

Several influential fund-raisers and strategists said they had had calls from Mr. Kerry, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and others.

One of the most sought after strategists is Michael Whouley, who worked for Mr. Gore. "I've talked to three or four already," Mr. Whouley said of prospective candidates. "They want to talk to me about what it's like to run."

Alan J. Blinken, who raised money for Mr. Gore, said, "I've already had approaches from folks who are thinking about" running in 2004.

"I said, `I just spent two years of my life doing nothing else but that. Give me another year.' "

One of Mr. Gore's closest friends said the former vice president, while laying the groundwork for a run, was nowhere near a decision. "He doesn't feel any pressure that he's got to make up his mind," he said. "It's an important time for him to go back to his friends and say thank you — and do some relationship building."

Several Gore defenders said the former vice president, who has returned to the family home in Virginia outside of Washington, could sit back for only so long as other Democrats began to seek support. "He has until about July 1," Mr. Coelho said. "If the money people don't hear from him that he wants to run, other folks will start taking them away. I'm getting lots of calls from money people who are wondering what to do. Should they wait or should they move? I keep telling them to wait."

Some dinner guests said they wondered whether Mr. Gore would want to leave early to catch Mr. Bush's address. But the former vice president put out word that he intended to stay until the last guest departed — which was around the time the Bush speech concluded.

Asked why Mr. Gore did not want to watch, one friend replied, "Why torture yourself?"