The Coast Is The Most

George W. Bush and Al Gore crisscrossed each other up and down the West Coast on Tuesday while hunting for votes exactly one week before the election.

From Fresno, Calif., where he campaigned Tuesday morning, Republican Bush headed for Oregon and Washington state with his "compassionate conservatism" theme. Democrat Gore spent the morning stumping in Oregon before heading back down to California, an all-important state in the Electoral College stakes.

Gore is accusing Bush of waging "class warfare on behalf of billionaires."

Taking aim at Bush's proposed $1.3 trillion dollar across-the board tax plan at a Portland, Ore. rally, Gore quoted Bush's admission that the wealthiest Americans will benefit under the plan and said, "What [Bush] is actually proposing — let's be plain about it — is a massive redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the wealthiest few."

In his speech, Gore defended his own "targeted" tax plan that Bush calls unfair, and answered Bush's charge that a Gore presidency would mean four more years of partisan enmity in Washington.

Gore was “on” in Portland, having alternated among a few attitudes in recent campaign appearances: sometimes he's an earnest supplicant begging for votes, sometimes he's the fiery populist advocate and sometimes he hangs back in a defensive crouch, phoning it in while Bush gloats over his lead in the tracking national polls.

In this "closing arguments" phase of the campaign, Gore framed the voters' choice in his favor Tuesday as effectively as Bush did on his own behalf Monday at an Albuquerque airport rally.

This is what Gore's argument looks like when it crystallizes:

"We can have a big tax cut for the wealthiest, or we can balance the budget and pay down the debt, but we cannot do both. We can have a tax cut for the wealthiest, or we can bring major change to education and insure that all our kids have health coverage, but we can't do both. We can have a tax cut for the wealthiest, or we can substantially increase military readiness, promote real energy independence and a clean environment, but we can't do both. We have to choose!"

Gore argued that while his tax cut is "smaller than the one Governor Bush is proposing," his long-term economic plan is more prudent because he's budgeted for debt reduction and domestic spending priorities like education and the environment. Under Bush, Gore says, "there is not enough money left" for those things.

What about Bush's charge that the country needs a "new attitude" in Washington, a consensus-builder with none of the baggage of the Clinton years?

Gore's answer: Sometimes a man's got to fight.

It's "well and good" that the likable Bush thinks he can "get along with the people in Washington, but who does he want to get along with?" Gore asked. "The special interests that want to pry open more loopholes in tax code The HMOs?" You get the picture. In a rhetorical jujitsu, the vice president's speechwriters made both the experience gap and the Gore edge cut his way.

"I am not running for president to go along and get along at any price," Gore continued. "If you want someone that knows how to fight and has the experience to win those battles on your behalf … I can say no to the special interests, with a smile."

Gore tried to counter his robotic, attack-dog caricature with yet another appearance on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, showing off family photos of him and wife Tipper elaborately costumed for Halloween as mummies, werewolves and monsters.

Gore won a warm, nationally televised embrace from Leno, who is a contributor to Democrats.

Leno asked Gore if he agreed with Clinton's recent comments to a magazine interviewer that Republicans owed the nation an apology for his impeachment in the Monica Lewinsky affair. Gore, who badly wants to bury any memory of that scandal, danced over the question, joking: "I'm still waiting for the Republicans to apologize for electing Newt Gingrich speaker."

He hastened to add, "Not that I want Newt to take that personally. I think the Contract (with America) agenda was pretty bad."

Bush and Gore are following one another around so much it's a wonder they don't get their luggage mixed up.

Gore followed Bush to California Tuesday, where the Texas governor campaigned a day earlier with John McCain. And Bush followed Gore to Oregon Tuesday, where the Vice President spent the previous night.

Most national tracking polls have Bush in front by about three points, which is the polls' margin of error. ABC News has them tied and a Christian Science Monitor tracking poll has Bush leading 47-41, in a poll with a 4 percent margin of error.

They're hitting all the same spots because that's where the decisive votes are, according to the parties' analyses.

Bush, in California for a second day in a row, visited a rehabilitation center in San Jose called City Team, where the “T” in “team” is depicted as a cross.

At the center, where people recovering from homelessness and addiction learn work skills and receive counseling, Bush outlined a role for government in his “compassion” agenda and talked about the “Responsibility Era,” a reliable applause line for Bush wherever he rallies supporters.

Bush laid off Monday's attacks on Gore's character, apparently out of respect for the kind of work that's done at the center. "Since it's not a rally, I am not going to spend a lot of time politickin’," the governor said.

Bush offered several examples of things government cannot do — "make people love one another," share "brotherly love" – and gave his own witness: "I quit drinking in 1986. I have not had a drop since then. It wasn't because of a government program. In my case I heard a higher calling."

He said government can help the disadvantaged by funding after-school programs run by religious groups, making it easier for individuals and corporations to deduct charitable giving on their income tax returns, and by funding a national mentoring program for the children of incarcerated parents.

Saluting the generosity of a Silicon Valley businessman who got involved with City Team, Bush suggested that while the stock market indexes are up, "Why don't we work on the compassionate index in the neighborhoods in which we live?"

In his only shot at Gore in San Jose, Bush said the vice president calls faith-based volunteerism "crumbs of compassion." Bush countered, to loud applause, "I believe programs such as these are the bread of life."

Wednesday, Bush goes to Minnesota. Gore campaigns in Florida, then flies to Pennsylvania, a state that now figures in the tossup column.

Apparently, Dick Cheney won the coin toss for tomorrow's stumping duties. The phlegmatic former defense secretary hits several Florida beach communities with a pair of wild ‘n’ crazy retirees: Sen. Alan Simpson and Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. They'll hook up with Dubya's brother Jeb Bush, the Florida governor, and be entertained by country music acts Hank Williams, Jr. and the Bellamy Brothers.