ORTSMOUTH, N.H. - What a difference a state makes.
Here in conservative New Hampshire, Vice President Al Gore presents himself as the co-architect of a fiscal policy that has ushered much of the country - New Hampshire in particular - into sheer economic bliss.
When the Clinton-Gore administration took office, Gore tells crowds, New Hampshire was losing 10,000 jobs a year. Now the state is gaining 16,000 jobs annually, Gore says.
It's a strong, pre-primary argument in this booming state. And it's one he downplayed just a week before, when the Iowa caucuses were the contests to win.
In Iowa, where labor is strong, the Democrats are liberal and the farm economy is struggling, Gore's core message was different.
The central theme of Gore's Iowa stump speech was race, sex discrimination, and protection of the rights of gays and lesbians. ''I want you to know that I'm pro-union. We ought to get rid of the so-called striker replacement'' law, Gore told receptive Democrats at a Davenport high school gymnasium.
At a college address in Ames, Iowa, Gore said he was ''proud to be a son of the New South,'' and spoke at length about civil rights and gay rights.
Candidates commonly finesse their messages to fit a particular state or constituency, and Gore is no exception. On issues ranging from gun control to the environment and rights for gays, Gore has adeptly adjusted his speeches to fit his audiences.
It's not that Gore reversed himself on an issue during the flight between Des Moines and Manchester. But his wording is carefully tempered to play to the crowd. In New Hampshire, he accentuates his administration's record on the economy, and gives shorter shrift to issues like gun control that are not popular here. Even on an issue as personally important to him as the environment, Gore has ever-so-subtly amended his message.
In the White Mountains, Gore talked about saving the White Mountain National Forest while not sacrificing jobs. On the more liberal New Hampshire seacoast, Gore's environmental rhetoric was stronger.
In Iowa, Gore sounded like a Democrat in the tradition of Franklin Delano Roosevelt or the Kennedys. Here in New Hampshire, Gore sounds much more like the ''New Democrat'' he cast himself as when he and Bill Clinton were the Democratic ticket in 1992.
Gore said he has not changed his message from state to state.
''New Democrats, like all other Democrats, strongly support civil rights, and women's rights, and an end to discrimination against gays and lesbians,'' the vice president said in an interview.
Gore spoke passionately about the need for hate crimes legislation, and predicted that 2000 would be a ''watershed year'' in rights for Americans vulnerable to discrimination, much as 1964 was for civil rights.
''This is the year, unlike 1992 or 1996, when James Boyd was dragged to his death behind a pickup truck, and the Republicans have refused to pass hate crimes legislation. It's a year when Matthew Shep ard was crucified on a split-rail fence because he was gay, and the governor of Texas killed a hate crimes law there because Democrats ... insisted on including gays and lesbians in the legislation,'' Gore said.
But such extensive, energetic comments rarely make it into Gore's New Hampshire stump speeches, especially in more conservative towns.
At dueling speeches before Democrats in Nashua Friday night, Gore recounted the country's record economic growth; former US senator Bradley spoke at length about race.
''Bradley says the same thing wherever he goes, whether in Iowa, New Hampshire, Brooklyn, or at a fund-raiser,'' said Bradley spokesman Eric Hauser.
Speeches denouncing discrimination don't have as sympathetic an audience here as they might in other states.
Gay rights ''aren't really an issue here, and civil rights are not much of an issue because there are almost no blacks here,'' said Mike Kaelin, a 41-year-old engineer from Milford. In a window across the street, next to the Riverhouse Cafe, where Gore was meeting voters, someone had hung a Confederate flag.
Kaelin said he is voting for Gore because of the strong economy.
Gore talked like a liberal in Iowa ''because you were in Iowa,'' said Al From, president of the Democratic Leadership Council, a group of centrist Democrats. Gore was among the founders of the group. ''Iowa skews things a lot.''
Gore is more likely to take a more centrist position as the campaign progresses, and must do so if he becomes the nominee and wants to mount a strong challenge to the Republican candidate - especially if the Republican is Texas Governor George W. Bush, From and others said.
