Ready For The Main Event
The vice president says he's in a groove, reports CBS News Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts. And there's little question that Al Gore is on track to steamroll to a record-breaking victory Tuesday that may, in effect, end the Democratic race.
Already the nasty tone usually reserved for general elections has begun. On Monday, Gore blasted George W. Bush for leading Texas to the worst record in health insurance for women.
"Fifty out of fifty," said Gore, "that's dead last."
Sunday night, the vice president eagerly jumped into the fray over those anti-McCain ads financed by a Texas Bush supporter, suggesting a Bush win Tuesday will be tainted by soft money.
"This raises the question of whether or not it will have been fair and square," Gore said.
In the Golden State, Bush quickly fired back at Gore, and vowed to remind Americans of the campaign finance scandals of the past seven years.
"The man must have amnesia when he's talking about campaign funding reform," said the Texas governor. "He must have forgotten that he went to a Buddhist temple here in California raising money from people who made a vow of poverty."
Gore is attempting to deflect criticism by embracing John McCain's call for campaign finance reform - a move that has left him vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy.
Gore defended himself, telling CBS News, "Both parties made mistakes in 1996, and the important point is what was learned from those mistakes."
Aides to Democratic rival Bill Bradley, meanwhile, were planning an exit strategy if Gore does as well as polls suggest in Tuesday's primaries.
"I don't think there's any magic number, but I do think we have to win a couple of states," Bradley said Monday morning on the CBS News Early Show.
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While Gore has been careful not to assume the mantle of the resumptive nominee in public, behind the scenes, his team is already preparing for a tough fight in the months ahead. And it appears the rough-and-tumble campaign he had with his Democratic challenger is just a hint of what the Republicans are prepared to throw at him in the general election.