"Totally not true," she says, joking that reports like that are what ultimately led to Sassy's demise.

Like her dad, Schiff seems entirely self-aware and self-possessed -- both of herself and of situations that are simultaneously serious and preposterous. At one point in the 80-minute interview, she expresses gratitude that she has a mouth full of hummus, which buys her a bit of time before she has to answer my question. When she leaves the interview, she returns a minute or so later asking if she should have offered to pay for the meal I told her I'd pay for.

"All of a sudden I just felt rude," she says, before running back to catch her dad on "Oprah" -- a large chunk of which she's graciously missed.

At the very least, it's fascinating to watch her jump back and forth between being herself, and being Karenna Gore Schiff, daughter of Vice President Albert Gore Jr. Like, say, when I ask if she and her dad disagree on anything.

"First of all, he encourages individual thinking and debate," she says. "So I've argued with him on probably every issue. And it doesn't necessarily mean I disagree with him: Sometimes I'm trying to figure out exactly what I think."

I wonder about one specific issue where I have a hunch they don't see eye to eye. So I ask.

"I don't really support the death penalty," she admits, despite the fact that her dad is a death penalty proponent. "I respect my dad's view on it. I've debated it with him many times. And I understand where he comes at it."

Why does she disagree with him? "I'm concerned about the statistics of how frequently it might be applied to innocent people; that's extremely troubling," she says. "My dad has a view that, in order to protect innocent citizens, you have to do things like go to war -- which is a horrible thing that you only do when there are very grave things at stake, and it's not a good thing and you're never happy about it, it's nothing to be proud of necessarily, but it's in the interests of protecting people. Which is how he feels about the death penalty."

"I have a little more trouble with the state going that far in terms of taking a life," she says.

The moment of candor is surprising -- and even seems to surprise her, too. When asked to describe any other issue where she and her father differ, she catches herself.

"I wouldn't do a whole exposé of our disagreements," she says. "Because I agree with him on the overwhelming things at stake in this election. My whole purpose in being a public person is to help get him elected."

For someone who doesn't think she has to spin, she can revert to message on a dime -- sometimes straining credibility. "It's not because he's my dad," she says about her support for the campaign. "I don't think that's the reason I'm supporting him."

Really? She says she truly believes in his politics, and in his realistic approach to implementing Democratic goals. "Sometimes I regret the fact that [environmentalists] don't see how much my dad is with them in spirit," she says, "because he does have really a much more pragmatic approach to much of the same goals.

"He'll work with the Big Three [automakers]," she says. "Some people might see that as compromising your ideals or whatever, but I think the way he sees it is really problem-solving."

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