ASHINGTON - Tony Coelho resigned as chairman of Al Gore's presidential campaign yesterday, giving the vice president an opportunity to bring in Commerce Secretary William Daley to run his fall campaign.
The surprise resignation of Coelho, who cited health reasons, is the latest sign of turmoil at Gore campaign headquarters, which made a ballyhooed move from Washington to Nashville after stumbling last year and will now be working under its third leadership team.
''I wonder if this is yet another effort of the Gore campaign to reinvent itself,'' said Karen Hughes, communications director for Republican candidate George W. Bush. ''Which Vice President Gore will campaign next week?''
Democratic operatives were more sanguine about the turn of events, saying that Daley shares many of Coelho's strengths and few of the former chairman's weaknesses.
Though Coelho is credited with reviving and honing the Gore operation after joining it in May 1999 - so that Gore soundly whipped challenger Bill Bradley in the Democratic primaries - he made enemies in the process and was forced by ethical questions to maintain a low public profile.
Lately, Coelho has come under fire as the Gore campaign seemed to lose some of the discipline and vigor with which it had dispatched Bradley, and Bush climbed in polls. Foes sniped at Coelho for an imperious style, and there were reports that he was tired and looking for a face-saving exit.
Daley, an experienced political hand whom Gore has long wanted to bring into the campaign, was rumored to be Coelho's successor. No action was taken, however, until Coelho checked into a hospital in suburban Virginia this week for treatment of abdominal pain.
Coelho said yesterday that an attack of diverticulitis, an inflammation of the large intestine, and a series of epileptic episodes forced him to submit his resignation. ''My doctors have told me that I need to slow down, eat better, and travel less for a period of time,'' he said. ''Unfortunately, none of this advice is consistent with the rigors of chairing a presidential campaign.''
Coelho, 58, who has important ties to congressional Democrats and party fund-raisers, will remain an adviser to the vice president.
Coelho's attorney, Stan Brand, said yesterday that a Justice Department ethics investigation of Coelho's handling of funds when he represented the United States in a 1998 trade fair in Lisbon had ''nothing to do with his decision.
''The investigation is where it was. It is ongoing. There has been no change in status or circumstance,'' Brand said.
As a commerce secretary, longtime Democratic pol, and son of a legendary Chicago mayor, Daley has his own extensive ties to the US business, political, and fund-raising communities. He shares Coelho's decisive style and, not having to worry about ethical questions, will be freer to represent the campaign on television.
Daley ''has a very, very good political mind. Very good instincts,'' a former associate said.
It was Gore who wooed the commerce secretary, and Daley who played hard to get, the associate said. ''It was definitely them coming to him. If your last name is Daley, that is how you work.''
Gore had asked Daley to chair his campaign last year, but Daley turned him down.
Daley, 51, who will leave his Cabinet post, is the son of the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley and brother of the current mayor, Richard M. Daley. He is a trusted adviser of President Clinton and played the lead role in winning approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993; in hosting the 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago; and in shepherding through legislation to normalize trade relations with China this year.
Daley has advised Gore that the path to victory lies in steady hard work and progress, not dramatic flailing. ''Hit singles,'' he has told the vice president.
''I think the campaign is in very good shape. We have to implement the game plan laid out,'' Daley said after joining Gore at a campaign stop in Cincinnati.
''When you are talking about some of the people in Democratic circles who have established themselves as a sage, steady strategist, on anyone's list Bill Daley is on the top,'' said Charles A. Baker, a veteran Massachusetts political operative with ties to the Gore campaign.
The new chairman will inherit from Coelho a smoother-running, better-funded campaign whose message, fund-raising, and targeting operations are in the hands of veteran Democratic operatives like Carter Eskew, Bob Shrum, Michael Whouley, Tad Devine, and Donna Brazile.
Though there may be additional personnel changes as Daley brings on his own talent, no one at the campaign expects a purge.
''Billy coming in is a very good thing,'' said one top-ranking campaign official. ''As he steps into Tony's shoes, the important thing to remember is that we have built a campaign that is ready to move into the fall at full speed. This was a very easy decision for Gore.''
Republican campaign operatives, however, said Daley's arrival is a sign that Clinton White House and national Democratic officials are increasingly worried about Gore's lackluster spring, planning for the August convention, and their ability to beat Bush in the fall.
Bush, visiting Boston yesterday, said Daley ''seems like a pretty darn efficient fella,'' but that candidates make the campaign.
Gore, speaking with Daley at a wholesale food market in Cincinnati, said: ''Bill Daley has done an outstanding job as commerce secretary; he has done an outstanding job in everything he has done. I'm thrilled that he has agreed to take over the campaign.''
Anne Kornblut of the Globe Staff contributed to this report from Boston. Material from Globe wire services was also used.
