Now that Al Gore is not doing well in the polls, pundits are asking if his rejection of President Clinton's campaigning for him is a mistake.

The pundits also stress that if Clinton comes in to campaign for Gore, that would fall into the hands of Republican strategists. However, this notion seems to be an idea the Republican strategists have placed in the minds of pundits more than it is a real strategic concern.

Republicans really don't want Gore to default to Clinton. For all the pundits' talk, they still admit that Clinton is brilliant, a master campaigner, and a major strategist. Clinton can, while Gore seemingly can't, energize a voter base that is floundering in the winds of indifference to this Al Gore campaign.

If the Republicans can keep Clinton out of the campaign or delay his entry, they know that they have more than a possibility of winning back the White House. And because the polls are soft, the Republicans are buoyed by the possibility of a Bush victory. And it is, seemingly, their strategy to keep Clinton out of the campaign; they are doing that by talking up their desire for Clinton to get into the race so they could cloth Gore with Clinton's negatives.

Even if the Gore campaign doesn't know, the Republicans know that they may be able to cloth Gore with Clinton's negatives, but his positives will accrue to Gore. That they do not want. They also know that with all of Clinton's negatives, he has a 70% approval rating.

If Gore is wise, he will seek the campaign of President Clinton as soon as possible. Has he forgotten that it was Clinton, with all his flaws, that simply rendered the Republicans defenseless and without issues; it was Clinton who has worked with all the forces involved in the sluggish economy, after a George Bush, Sr., Presidency, to bring it to a growth it has not known; and it was Clinton with all of his negatives that overcame the Republicans in their rush to impeachment trial?

Has Gore been blinded to the fact that in New York, Mrs. Clinton seems to be pulling away from Lazio for the Senate seat? The Clintons understand the political process and have the strength of intellect to hang in and get the job done. Gore needs that force in his campaign.

It is an unwise political strategy to ignore the force of Clinton as a potent political creature; he has mastered the political system and subdued the Republicans, in spite of their majority in Congress. Gore ignores the political power of Clinton at his own peril, as the polls now indicate.

What ever happened to Newt Gingrich? []