What is the deal here?
One is considering running for the Senate, and the other for President?
Who is betting on winning? Westi
Tipper Gore considering Senate race, sources say
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Tipper Gore is weighing an overture from Democrats to run for her husband's old Senate seat from Tennessee, sources close to her said today.
The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Democrats urged Mrs. Gore to run after Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., announced last Friday that he would not seek re-election.
One of the sources said Mrs. Gore was committed to public service and believed she owed it to herself to give some thought to a run.
Her husband, Al Gore, held the Senate seat from 1985 to 1993, before becoming vice president. Gore said he would not run for his old seat immediately after Thompson made his announcement.
One Democratic operative close to the Gores, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mrs. Gore had received a handful of overtures from Democrats urging her to consider running for the Senate and Mrs. Gore was weighing them.
However, the official said there was some doubt Mrs. Gore would run, given her tendency to shrink from the limelight during the presidential campaign and her general unease about the national political process. Still, the official, said it was telling that Mrs. Gore did not reject the overtures out of hand.
A Democratic official who spoke with Al Gore today said the former vice president said his wife was talking to people in Tennessee who are eager for her to run and is thinking through the possibility of a Senate campaign.
Jano Cabrera, a spokesman for the couple, said Mrs. Gore was in Los Angeles today and could not immediately be reached.
Earlier, Cabrera said the Gores are house hunting in Nashville.
Gore has been dividing his time between Washington and Tennessee, where he is teaching at two universities in the Nashville area.
Cabrera said the Gores will keep their farm near Carthage, where Gore's mother lives, as well as a house in Arlington, Va., that has been in Tipper Gore's family for 60 years.
Gore says he has not decided whether he will run for president again, but he recently formed a leadership political action committee that he says will support Democratic candidates nationwide.
Should she run for Senate, Mrs. Gore would be following the path of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. At the urging of Democrats, the former first lady ran for, and captured, her Senate seat at the end of her husband's term in office.
Mrs. Gore is known for her interest in mental health issues. She said she became interested partly because her mother used to suffer from severe depression. And she said she herself was treated for clinical depression after her son, Albert III, then 6, was hit by a car in 1989 and nearly died.
One of Mrs. Gore's first forays into public life was in the 1980s when she persuaded the recording industry to label songs with explicit lyrics. She was accused of censorship. The late rock musician Frank Zappa called her a ''cultural terrorist.''
Emotions have since simmered to the point where the music business seems to have given her a break — something that could be important should she run for office in Tennessee, given that state's own music scene.
Bill Farmer, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party, said he had not heard that Mrs. Gore was considering running for Senate but said she would be a good candidate.
''Mrs. Gore has always been an outstanding campaigner and would be an asset to any office she might seek,'' Farmer said. ''She's friendly and people like her, and she has a broad knowledge of the issues that face our state and our nation.''
Former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, a Republican, said he would seek the Senate seat. He has high name recognition in the state, and Farmer said Democrats would be helped by having a candidate who also is well known.
Republican Rep. Ed Bryant also is running for Thompson's seat.
On the Democratic side, Reps. Harold Ford Jr. and Bob Clement are considering running.
The Gores married in 1970 and have four children.
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