- LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former
Vice President Al Gore said on Wednesday the United States was headed down
the wrong track economically and diplomatically, and promised to run a
different kind of campaign if he seeks the White House again.
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- Gore, a Democrat who lost a nail-biter to President Bush
in 2000, said his bitter defeat had taught him a variety of political lessons
that he believed would make him a stronger candidate if he decides to run
again.
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- "You learn more from setbacks than you do from smooth
sailing," Gore said in an interview in his Beverly Hills hotel suite,
adding with a laugh: "I've been blessed with a great setback."
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- Since Bush has taken office the country is in dramatically
worse shape, Gore said. He called for repeal of the tax cuts for the country's
top earners and the firing of Bush's entire economic team led by Treasury
Secretary Paul O'Neill.
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- "I think the country is headed in the wrong direction
economically, environmentally, in our health care policy and in our foreign
policy," Gore said. "By almost every objective measure we've
lost significant ground in the last two years."
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- Gore said he thought war with Iraq was "likely"
unless Iraqi President Saddam Hussein completely capitulated to U.S. demands,
and he criticized Bush for moving valuable resources from an unfinished
war on terror to a campaign against Iraq.
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- "I think the destruction of the al Qaeda network
is the definition of success or failure in the war on terrorism, and we
have so far failed to do that," Gore said.
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- He said Bush's unilateral foreign policy moves and intense
focus on Iraq had "squandered the goodwill of the world that came
after 9/11 and replaced it with apprehension about what the U.S. is going
to do."
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- Gore, who had slowly emerged from political hibernation
over the last two years after losing the five-week Florida recount battle
to Bush, reappeared in the public eye in the last week in a round of appearances
with wife Tipper to promote their two new books on the American family.
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- He said he will announce a decision on another White
House run during the first week of January. Even though he won the popular
vote in 2000 before losing the electoral tally to Bush, he said, "I
don't think the Democrats owe me one red cent because of what happened
in 2000."
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- "If I decide to become a candidate again I'll do
so on the assumption that I'll have to scrap and fight for every single
delegate," he said.
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- LET IT RIP
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- Gore, criticized in 2000 for running a timid, ineffectual
campaign, told financial backers this summer that he would shed his reliance
on consultants and "let it rip." He said any new campaign would
be structured differently than the last.
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- "I've decided I'm better at some things than other
things in politics," he said. "The two things I would concentrate
on if I decided to run again are to have a lot of conversations with individuals
and with small groups to genuinely listen and learn ... and to take whatever
time I need to communicate -- and not with a clock ticking in the background."
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- If he runs again, Gore would move to the front of the
pack on name recognition alone, but polls have found ambivalence about
his candidacy among many Democrats. Party leaders are less enthusiastic
about a Gore rerun than grass roots members.
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- "Ultimately the rank and file voter has the say
and that's where my base is should I decide to run again," he said,
adding he realized he had plenty of fence-mending to do to convince party
insiders "that I've learned enough over the last two years to be able
to run a stronger and more effective campaign and be a better candidate
than I was in 2000."
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- Gore said he had too often fit his own stereotype as
a stiff and formal campaigner and "at times I have held back, which
I shouldn't have. This is all part of what I've learned over the last two
years."
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- He said his recent call for a single-payer, nationalized
health-care plan, long considered politically foolhardy, was an example
of his new approach.
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- Rising health insurance premiums, growing numbers of
uninsured, increased costs to small businesses and growing government deficits
mean "the incremental approach on health care is dead," Gore
said.
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- "This is in keeping with what I said I was going
to do -- speak from the heart and let the chips fall," he said.
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