RAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. - Al Gore yesterday took his newly energized campaign to the middle of the country, both geographically and ideologically, hoping his populist message would play well with the moderate middle of the American electorate that will decide the election.
Physically exhausted but brimming with enthusiasm for his post-convention campaign, Gore pledged to fight the ''special interests'' he said are keeping Americans from getting the health care they need.
Senior citizens have to ''count the pills and count the pennies'' to decide whether they must sacrifice food for medicine, said Gore, flanked by his running mate, Joseph I. Lieberman, and the two candidates' wives, to a boisterous crowd of about 5,000 in La Crosse.
''The people of the United States of America have had enough,'' Gore said, his voice raspy from lack of sleep. ''We're going to stand up for working families.''
Gore and his campaign aides apparently were pleased with the vice president's performance Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention, saying their private focus groups were ''off the charts'' with praise for Gore's nomination acceptance speech.
An overnight poll by NBC News, which is less reliable than customary three-day surveys, found that Gore had jumped ahead of the Republican nominee, George W. Bush, 46 percent to 43 percent. The same poll showed Bush with a 3 percentage point lead before the Democratic Convention. But the poll had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points, and analysts warned that it will take several days to determine the real effect of Gore's post-convention ''bounce.''
''The Democratic Convention went reasonably well, but I don't think it is going to change things all that much,'' political analyst Stu Rothenberg said yesterday. ''The Democrats had problems that the Republicans didn't. The Republican message was diversity and compassionate conservatism. I think the Democrats are still fighting between the two wings, and clearly Gore's speech was tilted to the traditional wing.''
A day-to-day tracking poll by Voter.com found Bush's lead over Gore had narrowed to 5 percentage points, with Bush leading 47 percent to Gore's 42 percent. As the Democratic Convention got underway in Los Angeles this week, Bush was ahead by 17 percentage points, according to the daily poll, conducted by the bipartisan team of Celinda Lake and Ed Goeas.
More disturbing for the Democrats were the numbers from the industrial Midwest, where Lake and Goeas said Bush leads 52 percent to 37 percent. The region is crucial territory for Gore, particularly since he is trailing in the South.
''I think this election is going to be decided, more than any other place in the country, in the upper Midwest,'' said Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin. Gore ''needs to go up there and stress his commitment to that area, given the fact that neither he nor his vice presidential nominee is from that region.''
Yesterday morning, Gore and Lieberman did just that, taking their wives, Tipper Gore and Hadassah Lieberman, on a four-day campaign cruise along the Mississippi River. The quartet greeted crowds at locks along the way and conducted issue seminars on board.
''Obviously, we believe the Midwest is going to play a deciding role in this election,'' said Gore spokesman Chris Lehane.
Gore needs to win over the political middle, but he also must galvanize the traditional liberal wing of the party that feels disaffected from the centrist Democratic ticket, analysts and lobbyists say.
''We beat up on [Gore] for eight years for not doing everything we wanted him to do,'' admitted Brett Hulsey, senior Midwest representative for the Sierra Club, which has endorsed Gore. ''And now it's time to come together and look at what he has done.''
Indeed, the major question following the convention is whether Gore and his running mate have presented themselves to the country as ''New Democrat'' moderates or the party's core liberals. Gore and Lieberman at times have been leaders of the New Democrats, but both men spent much of the convention assuring the party's core supporters that they were on their side.
Gore's speech Thursday was aimed at tapping into voter anger against an array of powerful interests, but it will be days before it is clear whether it resonated with moderate voters who are reasonably satisfied with the state of the union.
''The speech was Al Gore's Declaration of Independence from Bill Clinton,'' said Darrell M. West, a Brown University political science professor. ''He staked out his own views and indicated he wasn't just going to campaign based on the past record.''
But West said the speech seemed designed to please liberals instead of the middle bloc of voters.
''The speech will play better with his base than the middle,'' West said. ''It will help him close the gap. Whether it will help him win the election is still up in the air.''
Gore had arrived in Los Angeles with an enormous media opportunity, a four-day infomercial of adulation designed to build the case for his candidacy. From Gore's point of view, the week went mostly as planned.
But that may not be enough.
The cracks in the party machinery and message were evident, confirming Will Rogers's famous saying that he didn't belong to any organized party - he was a Democrat. When Lieberman arrived at the convention, he was immediately engulfed in controversy over whether he was too moderate and whether he supported affirmative action.
Lieberman, who was picked by Gore partly to send a message that the ticket is moderate, spent several days assuring liberals that he was on their side. Lieberman's convention speech contained few of his known moderate or conservative views.
And yet some liberals still aren't satisfied and may be considering supporting the Green Party nominee, Ralph Nader. While Democrats dismiss Nader as a fringe candidate, he represents a serious threat to Gore in states such as California, where the consumer advocate is running in the high single digits in the polls, potentially enough to help Bush win this crucial state.
The convention was also distracted by the many ways President Clinton dominated the convention: Could Gore separate himself from Clinton? Could Clinton speak without reminding viewers of his impeachment?
''I was pleasantly surprised'' by the strength of Gore's performance, said former senator Howard Metzenbaum, Democrat of Ohio. ''I think it is fair to say that up until then, he had not had the verve, the sense of excitement about himself that causes the American people to get turned on.''
Kranish reported from Los Angeles; Milligan from Wisconsin. Jill Zuckman of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
