Bush's attack came as Gore and his running mate, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, spent the day in Florida heralding their new long-term healthcare plan. But by even addressing the issue of healthcare, a senior Gore advisor says, Bush is playing into Gore's hands, opening the door for a winner of an issue for Gore -- and a big fat dead-weight loser for the Texas governor.

According to the Gore advisor, Bush's healthcare problem goes way beyond the Texas governor's proposals which, compared to Gore's new, costly prescription drug plan, will seem rather paltry. The problem even goes beyond "the Texas record, where there are some big problems," according to the advisor. As in "the huge number of uninsured, particularly children."

Healthcare is "going to be the focus of a lot of debate, for two reasons," the Gore advisor says. "One, it's important to people. And two, there are real differences between the candidates."

And three, the Gore campaign hopes to use the healthcare debate as a tool to show that Bush simply does not have what it takes -- the policy curiosity, the intellectual inquisitiveness, the awareness beyond self and the just-plain ready-for-prime-time vibe -- to be president.

"Put it all together and it's a losing issue for him," the Gore advisor says.

Bush's friends and foes alike concede that healthcare may be a weakness for the Texas governor in the fall. It "has not been a focus for the governor," says a Texas lobbyist who's knowledgeable about the issue, one who generally gives Bush good marks. "It's just not an issue he's been particularly interested in. It's not an area he's comfortable with."

Asked about the issue, Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett defended Bush's healthcare record and criticized the Clinton/Gore administration for a missed opportunity to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.

"Under President Clinton and Vice President Gore there are 8 million more uninsured Americans than before," says Bartlett. "And 2.4 million of them are children. Clinton and Gore had a golden opportunity, but their prescription was to have the government take over the healthcare system, which was rejected. It's yet another squandered opportunity."

Bush's prescription, according to his own literature, is to make "health insurance affordable for hard-working, low-income families" through "a $2,000 refundable health credit so that they can purchase their own insurance." For the average American family, that $2,000 falls anywhere from two to three thousand dollars short of what health insurance will likely cost, according to most independent analyses.

But Bush would clearly prefer to talk about other subjects. When the Texas Legislature introduced a "patient protection act" in 1995, Bush's first year as governor, "he strongly opposed it," says the lobbyist. Not on the merits of the issue, but because "he didn't want a debate on the subject, because it's not within his comfort zone."

"This is not a bad guy," says a longtime Texas political operative who's a Bush supporter. "It's just that he's a 3-by-5-card, consultant-driven, corporate-boardroom kind of guy." Thus, the operative says, Bush leans heavily on his staffers. And often the staffers give him advice that doesn't necessarily square with the facts and sentiments that a public debate on the issue might reveal.

Salon News A Salon-eye view of the day's news, with investigative reports, analysis and interviews with newsmakers.