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Night in pink satin
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May 8, 2000 | HOLT, Mich. -- This one, at Holt High School on Friday, is his fourth so far, with a previous one in Michigan and one each in Ohio and North Carolina. (Another is planned for Thursday in Los Angeles, in a Latino neighborhood.) This is Gore's first high school visit -- the others were at elementary schools -- but they've all shared the same almost familiar, faux-homey pattern. The school days begin the night before, when he sleeps over at the home of a teacher, often in a kid's room and -- noticeably non-Four Seasons -- bed. The next morning, he goes to the school itself (in the vice presidential SUV, of course; no limo for this) and spends a full day there attending classes, forums, assemblies and meetings with students, parents, teachers and, naturally, the principal.
It's a whole day out of his busy schedule, but it was Gore's idea to have them. And it's a breath of fresh air next to the sniping he's gotten into with his opponent, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, tidbits of which he willingly, gladly, pushes along to reporters -- today filing from the school's drama room -- who write what he says about Bush (the words "risky," "smug" and "arrogant" are repeated a lot) and about what Bush shoots back in questioning Gore's honesty and credibility. This is what gets reported, even though the snipes -- this day, focused on Bush's supposedly friendly relationship with the gun industry -- last just a few seconds out of a school day that, as you might remember, lasts hours. But Gore loves the "School Days." Really. He finds them invigorating! Fascinating! There's the official, pragmatic reason for the visits. "To really understand the issue of education, you need to spend time on the local level in order to see what it's really like," says Gore spokesman Chris Lehane. As an image-conscious exercise, they soften Gore, the pit bull, whose energy for politics has been known to work against him. People often tune out a pol standing on a podium, but stick one in a classroom and it's something new. And his strategists tout polls showing that the more people see of Gore, the more they like him, while the reverse is true for Gov. Bush. "This is a guy who comes and spends eight hours in a school!" gushes Lehane. "And in this day and age, the saturation media coverage has the effect of conveying that very fact to everyone in the state." Indeed. Because while "School Days" might not wow 'em in the producers booth at ABC's "World News Tonight" (one TV news correspondent nearly heaves when Gore says that he'd like to continue them as president), they do awfully well with, say, the news editor at the Lansing State Journal, which reported Friday on its front page: "For Holt students, staffers, today is 'goose-bump-time.'" It's an interesting strategy: Keep up a relentless rat-a-tat-tat on Bush at the national level while following a steady itinerary of trips to key areas that serve no greater purpose than conveying that Gore is a concerned -- and nice -- guy. Gore flew into the town late Thursday, but he took a minute to shake the hands of the 100 or so neighbors gathered nicely across the street from Jay and Margo Strong's house. Not long after midnight, he's settling into the easy chair in the Strong living room, drinking bottled water, eating cheese and crackers and getting acquainted with the couple as their two children, Nick, 10, and Anna, 6, sleep. Margo's a computer science and technology teacher at Holt High School, has been there for 20 years, while Jay teaches first grade at the local elementary school. Gore knows the Strongs are big Michigan State basketball fans who were delighted at the results of this year's NCAA Tournament. (This was mentioned in his briefing papers.) But tonight, the Strongs are watching hockey. In fact, it's the third longest National Hockey League game of all time, in which the Philadelphia Flyers take five overtimes to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, though Gore stays up to watch only four. He soon retires to Anna Strong's room, which has been outfitted with a special phone in case of a national emergency. But it's also used for his wake-up call, which occurs sometime around 5:30 a.m. ("Short nights here, don't you think?" he later quips.) To prepare for his day, he puts on a cotton golf shirt, jumps into freshly ironed, pleated khaki Dockers, pulls on his shiny black cowboy boots and, the pièce de résistance, clips the Palm Pilot to his belt.
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