In New Hampshire recently, shocked reporters at one stop were treated to a sit-down dinner of poached chicken and fresh asparagus instead of the usual cold sandwiches. After an evening event in Iowa, an aide poured red and white wine for reporters on the press bus. The veep is doing his part, too. He surprised a CNN correspondent with a box of chocolates for his birthday and handed out Tennessee Titans Super Bowl T shirts to the press pool traveling with him on Air Force Two.
Things weren’t always so good. Early in the campaign, a green advance staff left reporters to fend for themselves. Gore floundered–and his press coverage was dismal. Now Gore has brought in an experienced White House team who treat the task of handling the media entourage as though they were provisioning the Concorde.
Has the care and feeding paid off? Hard to say, but as life on the road has improved, so have Gore’s coverage and his poll figures. Says one aide: “An advance man can’t win the campaign for a candidate, but he can lose it.”
