Tipper Gore Huddles to Mull Senate Run

Cutting short a trip to California, Tipper Gore was scheduled to huddle with friends and family this weekend to discuss whether to run for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee, according to several sources who have spoken with her.

“Clearly, there are enough people making a convincing argument that she doesn’t want to dismiss it out of hand,” a Gore family intimate said Friday. “She wants the weekend. She knows she’s got to move quickly.”

Leading Democratic strategists still think it most likely that Gore, 53, will not join the race for the Senate seat her husband, former Vice President Al Gore, once held. But several said that, after his decision not to run again for it, she appeared to be seriously examining the possibility.

And that prospect drew a notably enthusiastic response from several party leaders, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), the former first lady whose political path Tipper Gore would be following.

Clinton actively encouraged Gore to seek the seat Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) is vacating, saying the possibility of her candidacy was generating “a lot of excitement” among Democratic senators.

“If she decides to run,” Clinton said on CNN on Friday, “I am going to be her most enthusiastic supporter.”

Added a top party operative: “It would be fair to say that, such as it is, the Democratic establishment thinks it is an interesting proposition. . . . She is very intelligent, very attractive and [would make] a very exciting candidate. She can raise an awful lot of money in a very short time, which is important in this race.”

Aside from the nationwide publicity her candidacy would generate, it would potentially add Tennessee to the relatively small list of tightly contested Senate races that will determine which party controls the chamber after the November election.

Former Gov. Lamar Alexander, a two-time contender for the Republican presidential nomination, is the front-runner for the Republican nod. Also in the field is Rep. Ed Bryant.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Bob Clement has scheduled a news conference Monday in Nashville, where he was expected to announce his candidacy. The other three Democratic House members from the state have effectively ceded the field to Clement, announcing they would not run if he did.

Gore intimates said she had been urged to consider the race by Tennessee supporters who believe the party needs a stronger nominee to beat Alexander.

One top Democratic operative familiar with the discussions said the general expectation is that if Gore enters the race, Clement will withdraw.

A Gore candidacy also could have ramifications for her husband’s future. Democratic political analysts said that if she wins, it might improve Al Gore’s prospects if he runs for president again by demonstrating renewed strength in the home state he lost in 2000. Had he carried Tennessee, he would have claimed the White House.

But these Democrats also cautioned that if Tipper Gore loses the Senate race, it might deepen the belief among his critics that Al Gore was fatally damaged in his 2000 campaign.

One reason a Tipper Gore candidacy would cause surprise is that she never appeared to enjoy the public limelight as her husband ran for office.

Although warmer than her husband in public, she never seemed enthusiastic about interaction with, or scrutiny from, the press.

“She doesn’t mind talking to the press when it comes to specific issues that she cares about,” said one advisor. “But when it comes to her private life, or anything other than these key issues she is focused on, she does tend to shy away.”

Before Al Gore won the vice presidency as Bill Clinton’s running mate, Tipper Gore was best known for her work as the founder of the Parents Music Resource Center, which lobbied for the establishment of a parental advisory rating system on rock albums.

During the Clinton administration, Tipper Gore was most visible for her work on behalf of the mentally ill. She revealed that she had undergone treatment for depression after her son, Albert III, was seriously injured in a car accident in 1989.

If she wins a Senate seat, Gore will not only be serving with Hillary Clinton but potentially with Elizabeth Hanford Dole, the wife of former GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole. Elizabeth Dole is running for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina.