Clinton rages against the dying of the light as Gore stumbles on a darkening campaign trail

Still, pundits say the vice-president is hurting himself by not sufficiently exploiting or harping on the right years of economic prosperity the Clinton-Gore team bequeathed to the country.

According to recent accounts, Clinton and Gore have barely talked to each other except for brief conversations during the Middle East crisis.

“Gore won’t pick up the phone. He doesn’t call, and Clinton doesn’t know why. Clinton is both hurt by the personal rebuff and bewildered as to why his political heir won’t come to him for the advice he is itching to give, advice the president feels the candidate needs,” one party factotum was quoted as saying.

Gore has been so keen on distancing himself from Clinton that he had not stepped into the White House for months before the Middle-East crisis. In one instance, he even went as far as advising his aides and the White House not to release a picture of him and Clinton together.

That’s hardly surprising for the few people privy to the inner dynamics of the Clinton White House during its two terms.

Despite the gregarious togetherness the Clintons and the Gores projected during the 1992 campaign and their subsequent triumph when they danced to Fleetwood Mac’s Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow at the victory party, it was never one happy family.

Clinton and Gore seemed the ideal foil to each other in the beginning, both being liberal southern democrats. They met the first time in 1987 when Gore, than a young Senator from Tensessee, tried for the Democratic presidential ticket and asked Clinton for endorsement (which he gave). Gore did not succeed.

Subsequently, when Clinton decided to run in 1992, he picked Gore as his running mate because, according to one account, he was as sharp and tenacious as his wife Hillary.

That automatically pitted Gore and Hillary against each other. When Clinton became President in 1992, the two fought bitter turf battles in the White House over everything from space to issues. Both tried to position themselves as Clinton’s primary advisor, a position Gore claimed with certainty when Hillary messed up the health care issue.

Through all this the First Lady and Second Lady Tipper Gore appeared to be good friends as were the two men.

The Monica Lewinsky episode during the second term completely befouled the atmosphere and equations. Gore initially believed Clinton’s denials and apparently defended him with Tipper and their teenage daughters.

When Clinton was caught lying, Gore had a hard time reconciling to the reckless behaviour of the President. Tipper was said to be outraged and did not talk to the Clintons for weeks.

Their equations became more and more complex and uncertain as the second term drew to a close. Then came Hillary’s decision to run for the Senate. As the vice-president and Clinton’s political heir, Gore had expected to have the limelight and the attention, not to speak of the money, showered upon him during his run for Presidency. Instead, he saw the arclights and the lolly move from one Clinton to another.

The distrust was compounded by hurtful personal remarks from people in both camps. In one instance, Gore’s mother Pauline is said to have spoken patronisingly about Clinton’s upbringing.

"Bill came up in a very provincial atmosphere. And even though he went to Yale, and he went to Oxford, you don’t undo or move out of that provincial atmosphere that has influenced you in your early life," she is believed to have said.

Gore’s people also tried hard to project their candidates positives as opposed to Clinton: His personal integrity and his having fought in Vietnam, for example.

But the Gore camp is unendingly mystified by Clinton’s enduring popularity even in the twilight of his Presidency. Struggling to put together a cohesive campaign strategy they seem resentful about Clinton’s easy mastery of politics. Clinton meantime is said to be equally resentful at being left out of the action, and according to one account, is even worried that his Presidency could eventually be erased from the records.

Raging privately against the dying of the light, the President hopes to shine one last beacon to show Al Gore the route to victory.

But Gore wants to do it on his own.