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Despite these odd physical characteristics, Gore hardly seems stiff in a small group setting; in fact, he was perfectly capable of generating excitement at a gathering in a barn in Etna, N.H., on July 22, where he genuinely wowed the crowd. In fact, in small groups throughout New Hampshire that week -- whether at house parties, or while conducting a seminar at a New Hampshire technical college, Gore conveyed an appealing personality, relaxed yet serious, wonky yet concerned and always quite charming.

He scored positive reviews from many of the pleasantly surprised voters who attended his events. "I thought he was very personable ... and very comfortable," said Polly Dale, a substitute teacher who leans Republican and saw Gore at the technical college. "I was very impressed."

Gore told Salon that his comfort level on the stump "hasn't been freshly examined [by the media] in a while. I don't mind that; it's OK. I joke from time to time that I benefit from low expectations."

"My response is always 'stiff compared to who?'" says Bill Turque, a national correspondent for Newsweek whose as-yet-untitled biography of Gore will hit bookstores early next year. "Who is this long line of great theatrical talents who run for president? There's Clinton and Reagan, but after that, who are they talking about?

"Stiff compared to George Bush? To Mike Dukakis? To Bob Dole? Gore's not the most fluid guy. For a long time he was very self-conscious about his age [he was sworn into the House at the tender age of 28], and also he talks about very technical things, like climate change, information technology, environmental restoration. But I think he's capable of being very good campaigner."

Friends and confidants of the vice president argue that whatever stiffness remains comes from Gore's inability to feign sincerity. Whereas a 30-second encounter with President Clinton can make you feel like he's your new best friend, Gore doesn't do that. And Clinton, of course, is full of crap. Not that Gore never is; but while every pol has a degree of phoniness, it may be that Al Gore doesn't have enough, at least not on the stump, to please his critics.

When he's comfortable, the vice president can actually be quite a wise-ass. When I ask him what his biggest faults are, he says, with a twinkle: "I work too hard. I'm too kind. I care too much. If I were better balanced, I would have at least one unkind thought in my body." Not bad, for a stiff.

If you forget the stuff about his image, there are still plenty of substantive criticisms to be fired at Gore. Among them:

• On important policy questions, Gore can be cautious to a fault, perhaps one result of having seen his father's Senate career cut down by bold stances in favor of civil rights and against the Vietnam War.

• Gore become an overly aggressive fund-raiser during the last election cycle, pushing the law to the limit, despite his earlier statements in favor of campaign finance reform.

• In betrayal of the nickname former President Bush once gave him -- "Ozone" -- environmentalists think Gore has sold them out, and that he has abandoned his environmental principles.

• As an outspoken opponent of big tobacco -- and someone who made a tortured speech before the nation about how his chain-smoking sister had died of lung cancer -- his decision to hire as his media man Carter Eskew, big tobacco's advertising superstar, seems outright hypocritical.

• He often speaks to people in ways they find condescending, and varies his manner only slightly whether he's talking to kids at a day-care center or to their moms at campaign events with a wandering-mike shtick.

• In an era when the public seems to be seeking bipartisan cooperation from political leaders, Gore is a partisan Democrat from the old school.

So far, however, none of these faults are contributing to his media problems. What you hear, over and over, are the "Love Story," Internet, and farm-boy flaps.

"Al Gore is like the fat boy in the schoolyard," Russell Baker wrote in the New York Times in 1997, right after the "Love Story" fracas. "Tormenting him is so much fun that nobody can resist ... Victims are necessary in schoolyards to satisfy the nastier angels of youthful nature. Victims in politics fulfill similarly shameful needs, but a politician, once draped in the trappings of victimhood, faces dangerous practical problems."

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