Campaign Trail

Occasional morsels from Campaign 2000

Picture imperfect

For a politician, posing with children is like taking photos on safari: the pictures can be beautiful, but there’s always lurking danger.

Al Gore learned a little about the unpredictable nature of 4- and 5-year-olds last week when he visited a New York City day-care center.

The vice president’s first stop was the sand table, where several children were playing with toy animals. Sara, 4, scolded a photographer who was snapping away: “Mister, we don’t want any pictures!”

When Gore addressed a boy as Joseph, Sara jumped in again. “It’s not Joseph, it’s Yosef.”

Gore tried another tactic. “I have a little girl named Sarah, but she’s not that little anymore,” he said with a smile.

“How old is she?”

“Twenty-one.”

“She’s old,” the preschooler sniffed.

Rebuffed, the man one heartbeat away from the presidency settled cross-legged on the floor where three children were putting together a large puzzle. Suddenly, the microphone hovering over their heads was more interesting. They reached toward the strange object, sticking out their tongues and making slobbering sounds.

Just about then, a crocodile from the sand table flew across the room and landed at Gore’s feet. Excited students wriggled around the floor, dancing on the puzzle and pulling the pieces apart. The chaos was too much for one girl, who crumpled her face in tears as she contemplated all the cameras.

Something’s fishy

“I am deeply committed to saving and restoring the salmon of this region,” Al Gore said Friday during a visit to Washington state’s Columbia River.

The lunch served afterward to the press: glazed salmon.

The press dinner: baked salmon.

Served at a Seattle fund-raiser Gore attended that night: broiled salmon.

“Responsible conservation today will lead to responsible consumption in the future,” said Gore spokesman Chris Lehane, who does not eat fish. Concerned that the day’s menu would spawn controversy, Washington Gov. Gary Locke assured reporters that the salmon served was most likely from Alaska, not the threatened Chinook variety.

Lehane, who had earlier told the press corps they had eaten farm-raised salmon, was asked why he was scaling back his statement.

“I think,” he said, “you should let me off the hook.”

A few good men

For George W. Bush, a good man is not hard to find. On the hustings, the Texas governor constantly praises those who stand with him as “good” men.

Throughout his bitter primary campaign against John McCain, the Arizona senator remained a “good man.” Anyone who endorses Bush and anyone who comes to work for him--”good” men all. In news releases, the governor has been quoted as calling no fewer than seven supporters good men.

Some return the compliment--”He’s a good man from a great family,” said the co-chairman of Bush’s Iowa finance committee.

When Bush wants to praise a woman, particularly his wife, he calls her “fabulous.”

Quote file

“In judo, when somebody punches, you convert their energy to your own good.”

--George W. Bush, comparing his campaign against Al Gore to the martial arts

Compiled by Massie Ritsch from Times staff reports