With Friends Like These ...

It appears that the National Rifle Association will refrain from endorsing a candidate for the White House.

But the gun owners' group does have a favorite in the presidential race - and it certainly won't sit out the fall campaign in any other partisan way.

So what's going on here?

NRA officials quoted in The New York Times say they will likely withhold a formal endorsement of Republican George W. Bush - in order to help the Texas governor in the battle against his Democratic rival, Vice President Al Gore.

Though popular with the GOP base, the NRA is not seen in a positive light by those independent swing voters - especially women - whom Bush and Gore are fighting over.

And so, the NRA's thinking apparently goes, no endorsement at all is better than an endorsement which the Democrats could use to hammer Bush with those voters.

"Our goal is to do no harm," said one association official.

In fact, an gun control group's ad that's now airing in a number of swing states features a clip of an NRA official that's meant to paint Bush as the association's pawn.

The clip shows Keyne Robinson, an NRA vice president, telling an audience that if Bush wins, "we'll have a president where we work out of their office."

Handgun Control - which put out that ad - says the NRA's low profile is no surprise, because "they've become a real albatross for candidates," the group’s political director Joe Sudbay told the Times.

Still, the NRA will not play the campaign slouch this fall. The Association will spend millions of dollars attacking Gore on the gun issue, mobilizing its four million members through mailings, web site postings, and speeches. NRA officials say TV ads against Gore in key swing states - such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio - could also be in the cards.

Repeatedly in his White House bid, the vice president has said that he wears the NRA's opposition to him as "a badge of honor" Gore's campaign has labeled the association as "the Bush gun policy team" - and has slammed the governor for "working hip holster to hip holster" with the gun lobby.

Until recent times, the NRA steered clear of endorsing presidential candidates. But in 1980, the group began backing GOP nominees, including Ronald Reagan both times and Mr. Bush's father in 1988. While the NRA did not endorse the elder Bush in 1992 or Bob Dole in 1996 due to differences on some issues, the organization spent millions of dollars in TV ads against Democrat Bill Clinton during those campaigns.