This Time, Gore’s Tongue Is Golden : Politics: The Democratic vice presidential hopeful has sloughed off his previous drone. Now he’s packing them in.

What a difference four years makes.

In his unsuccessful race for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, Tennessee Sen. Al Gore was perhaps best known for his droning, boring, painfully detailed speeches. Now, after a week on the hustings as Bill Clinton’s second fiddle, Gore has a new act that is drawing early rave reviews.

Combining a preacher-like call-and-response technique with cheerleading for Clinton’s message of political change, Gore is packing town squares and convention halls with fans straining to hear his evolving stump speech.

Given the increasingly important role he’s playing in the campaign--both behind the scenes and on the stump--Gore also seems to be winning converts to the Democratic presidential ticket.

In Philadelphia on Wednesday, for example, Gore stood before a crowd estimated at 10,000--his largest yet--in the city’s John F. Kennedy Plaza and brought them to life with what has become a trademark chant directed at the Republican Administration.

“What time is it?” a perspiration-soaked Gore shouted.

“It’s time for them to go,” the pumped audience answered.

A similar scene occurred earlier this week during campaign stops at the intersection of the two busiest streets in downtown Charlotte, N.C., where about 3,000 office workers turned out for a lunchtime rally. In the shadows of towering bank buildings and hotels, Gore test-marketed a new campaign riff, one that he would repeat at stops for the next day and a half.

Responding to published reports that President Bush believed himself more capable than his Democratic foes of rousing from a dead sleep to effectively handle a midnight telephone call on a foreign crisis, Gore said:

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, where have they been when the American people have been ringing the telephone line? They’ve given out a hot-line number to the wealthy, privileged few in this country and when they call, Bush and (Vice President Dan) Quayle move heaven and Earth to do whatever it is they want them to do.

“But when the average working families call the White House and say we need something done for us, they get a busy signal. When the average working family calls the White House and ask for Bush and Quayle to do something about health insurance, they get a disconnected signal. When the average citizens call up and say ‘President Bush, Vice President Quayle, can you do something about the economy of this country?’ they get a signal that says this is not a working number for you.”

And again, at a fairground in Raleigh, N.C., where about 7,000 supporters paid $5 to hear Gore speak and to devour a pork barbecue plate, the vice presidential candidate did not disappoint.

“Bush says, ‘Vote for me and it’s a vote for change,” Gore said as the crowd booed with gusto. Then, with upturned palms, shrugged shoulders and a Jack Benny look of exasperation, he deadpanned: “What do they take us for?”

The crowd roared with laughter and shrieked with catcalls.

Something has happened to Gore, the orator.

Marla Romash, Gore’s press secretary, and other staff members deny he has taken speech lessons or attended Toastmaster sessions. Rather, both they and the candidate say his improved rhetorical abilities stem from the fact that he is more comfortable about speaking his mind.

“In my case, I’ve been through a lot of changes in the last four years,” Gore said during a recent impromptu chat with reporters on his campaign plane.

One that has been widely publicized was the near death of his small son in 1989 when the boy was hit by a car. But Gore says the simple processes of gaining more life experiences and growing as a politician also have had an impact.

“To expect somebody to be exactly the same four years later, at the beginning of a new campaign, as they were four years ago at the end of another campaign is unrealistic.”

Romash says Gore’s background as a journalist plays a role in the shaping of his speeches. “He writes his own major speeches, op-ed pieces and stuff like that,” she says. “His line--’It’s time for them to go’--he wrote that a couple of days before the convention.”

Whatever its genesis, Gore’s oratory appears to be hitting a mark with many.

Tim Goodfellow of Raleigh went to hear Gore speak at the city’s fairground. It was the first political event he had ever attended and, to his surprise, Gore’s remarks impressed him enough to elicit his prolonged applause.

Goodfellow said he now finds himself “enthusiastic” about supporting the Democratic ticket.