Al Gore

Vice President Al Gore “declares” that his candidacy for president is more important to him than his current official duties as vice president (Oct. 31). If I told my boss that I was more interested in getting a promotion than in the job duties I was being paid for, I’d get fired.

I thought that this is the sort of thing one gets accused of, not something one would cheerfully declare in the national press. What happens when Gore, having become president, decides that a new hobby, like bird watching or Chinese checkers, is more important to him than his official duties? Didn’t he take some oath of office to uphold his duties above and beyond his own personal ambitions?

BEVERLY BICKEL

Long Beach

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Should we not be concerned that we are to be virtually without a vice president for the next 14 months? Should we not be even more concerned that, if he were to be elected to the presidency, we might well be minus a president for a similar period of time while he ran for a second term?

Bill Bradley is looking better and better: When he felt he could best serve his constituency and other citizens in a role other than as U.S. senator, Bradley had the grace to serve out his current term conscientiously and ably.

Gore, on the other hand, when asked whether this decision of his to “break away” from his vice presidential duties might not create conflict, replied, “That’s not particularly important compared to making sure my line of communication with the American people is strong and sure.”

The message this statement sends to me loud and clear is that Gore wants the prestige of the top office in the land more than the responsibility it entails.

GLORIA BUSMAN

Carlsbad

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Why are we allowing ourselves to be subjected to the inhumane treatment of listening to presidential campaigning for more than a year? Isn’t it time to reform the election process to where no hats would be thrown into the ring before June 1 of the year of the election? Five months of innuendoes should be enough to tell the voters who the candidate is and what he stands for.

DAVID S. EICHER

Glendale