hey are nervous spectators as the work in progress that is Vice President Al Gore's campaign rejiggers his message again this week.
Leading Democrats across the country say there is no reason to worry too much about polls that show Gore lagging behind Governor George W. Bush of Texas. Early polls, taken before voters are ready to focus on presidential politics, are an unreliable gauge, they say.
But interviews with governors and members of Congress who support Gore reflected considerable unease at the difficulty Gore has encountered in the early going deciding what his campaign is about and how he can best press his case.
''He's been beaten up a little more than he needs to be,'' said Jim Hodges, the governor of South Carolina.
Almost all of these Democrats agreed that the vice president has stumbled by not quickly settling on a campaign message and strategy. But they offered varied prescriptions for what Gore should do and how he should do it.
For example, Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa said it is too early for Gore to attack Bush. Governor Paul E. Patton of Kentucky said Gore must attack Bush, while also promoting himself. And Hodges said Gore ought to be talking more about education while aggressively taking on Bush.
''If you are behind in the polls, it's hard not to attack,'' Hodges said. ''You can't go into a defensive mode if you are behind.''
The Gore campaign has appeared to lurch from one tactic to the next since locking up the nomination on March 7. First, Gore seemed to disappear from sight, taking a low profile while Bush, with a series of policy proposals, sought to move toward the political center. Then, campaign officials said Gore would go on the attack, and, for a stretch, he did, ripping Bush's proposals the way he attacked Bradley's health care plan during the primaries.
Now the campaign has turned to Plan C, deciding that Gore should do less attacking and more talking about himself and the issues he has stressed. Instead of wielding the hatchet himself, Gore now plans to rely more on surrogates to target Bush.
This week, Jesse Brown, the former head of the Veterans Administration, questioned an apparent gap in Bush's military service record, first reported by the Globe. Senator John Kerry talked to reporters about Bush and national security. And a Connecticut representative, Rosa DeLauro, has gone on television news shows to promote Gore's record on mental health, as well as to deliver floor speeches on Bush shortcomings.
For his part, Gore is hoping to soften his image, talking about how families struggle to take care of their children after school, about investments in cancer research, and about improvements in cancer care and prevention. Yesterday he called for a ''new era'' of mental health coverage for children. - and, in doing so, spoke in very personal terms about the depression suffered by his wife, Tipper.
''Everything I'm going to tell you this morning I learned from Tipper,'' Gore said as he proposed requiring insurance companies to cover mental health services for children as they do other health conditions. He also called for mental health training for all new teachers, and proposed expanding outreach and treatment services at a cost of $2.5 billion over 10 years.
Tomorrow, Gore will call for encouraging responsible fatherhood as the next step in welfare reform and for making sure fathers pay child support and have jobs to support their families.
''None of these ... lend themselves to stark contrasts, other than the fact that Bush is doing nothing about them,'' said Douglas Hattaway, a Gore spokesman.
Representative J. Joseph Moakley, the South Boston Democrat, said that the shift should not be a cause for concern.
''If you've been in a campaign in the front line, every day it's a new strategy to see what works and what doesn't work,'' Moakley said. ''There's a time to talk about what you've done and there's got to be a time to talk about what the other fellow hasn't done.''
Vilsack, the Iowa governor who campaigned with Gore through the caucuses, compared the vice president to Rocky Balboa, the Philadelphia boxer of movie fame.
''Early in the fight, Rocky would get pummeled, but he'd just keep plugging away, and at the end of the fight he would be successful,'' Vilsack said.
Still, Vilsack said, it was premature for Gore to be pummeling Bush.
In Kentucky, Patton said Gore has not performed ''as effectively as I think he will when the campaign really gets in gear.''
He said that Gore must attack Bush as well as talk about himself, and that he must use surrogates to go after Bush.
''I think it is legitimate to discuss your opponent's perceived shortcomings,'' Patton said. ''As a practical matter, the vice president needs to be a spokesperson for the shortcomings of his opponents and his own strengths.''
Kerry, who is being considered as a possible running mate for Gore, called it ''crazy early'' to be worrying about polls showing the vice president trailing Bush.
Hodges, the South Carolina governor, said the polls show that voters care about a couple of specific issues.
''If I were giving advice to Gore, I would focus on education and health care as the primary issues,'' he said.
But he also said that Gore should sharpen his differences with Bush.
''You can attack in a way that does not appear personal,'' Hodges said. ''The trick for Gore is to attack on the issues without appearing to be personal.''
