Gore Changes The Subject
Entering the political caldron of south Florida Friday, Vice President Al Gore discussed health insurance and future of Social Security, but avoided the hot topic of Elian Gonzalez.
Less than 50 miles from Little Havana, where the 6-year-old Cuban boy is staying, Gore fielded questions from an invitation-only crowd more interested in health insurance coverage for contraceptives and other such matters.
No one at the forum on Democratic Party platform issues asked about the fate of Elian, and Gore did not offer any reference to the boy at the center of the fierce custody battle here and back in Washington.
"It was deliberately something that we felt shouldn't be discussed because we were here to talk about health care," said Hani Lipp, a union representative in Gore's audience of about 200 people.
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"He thinks it's important to let those talks happen and let the process play out, so he's not going to make any statement," said campaign spokesman Doug Hattaway.
Last week, Gore stunned the White House and other Democrats by endorsing legislation that would give Elian and his father U.S. residency so that the boy's custody could be decided in family court.
Gore still holds that view, Hattaway said. "He understands that people disagree with his position,but he thinks it's the right approach and you have to let the chips fall where they may."
Republican presidential rival George W. Bush said in Los Angeles: "I believe the matter ought to be resolved in a Florida family court. ... I'm happy Vice President Gore agrees with that position. We'll see how much influence he has in the administration."
A camra crew was positioned by campaign aides inside a Delray Beach school gymnasium to catch Gore admiring the technology beaming his forum live onto the Democratic National Committee's Web site and initiating an online system of gathering public input on the party platform.
But with the crew's producer poised to ask Gore about Elian, the vice president skipped the photo-op and steered clear of his press entourage, which, with the exception of a two-person "pool," was barred from his $400,000 DNC fund-raising lunch of lamb chops in Ft. Lauderdale.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service has determined the boy, whose mother died at sea fleeing from Cuba to Florida, must be reunited with his father.
Some critics have accused Gore of pandering to Florida's vocal Cuban-American community in his determination to compete for the state's 25 electoral votes.
On this two-day visit, Gore collected more than $1 million for the DNC.
On Friday, Gore highlighted Social Security, an issue dear to Florida's sizable retiree population, panning Republican Bush's rival proposal to let people invest Social Security funds in the stock market.
The Bush plan "may sound like a small amount of speculation but it is really a large dose of Social Security devastation," Gore said at a hearing on what health care reforms should be included in the Democratic platform.