ALK ABOUT FUZZY. Last night it wasn't Al Gore's math. It was George W. Bush's mouth.
As he repeatedly reminds us, Bush is governor of Texas. Based on his performance during the third and final presidential debate, the Republican presidential nominee seems eager to keep his day job.
Compared with his two previous debate appearances, Bush looked subdued and sounded hesitant. And that is a lucky break for his Democratic opponent, who bombed for different reasons during the first and second debates.
Going into last night's debate, Gore desperately needed to reverse the momentum, which seemed to be was going Bush's way in the final weeks of Campaign 2000.
The vice president looked and sounded as comfortable as Al Gore can look and sound. That means Gore still makes us think of the smartest, not the coolest, kid in the class. But that didn't seem so bad during last night's town meeting, since the cool kid was having an off night.
Bush lacked his usual glibness. At times he seemed to be searching for words; at other times he seemed to be searching for equanimity. Occasionally he seemed downright testy.
When it came to substance, not style, both candidates stressed their now familiar differences regarding the role of the federal government.
Bush wants us to have health IN-surance and excellent schools, but he doesn't want the federal government to pay more for any of it. ''That's what governors ought to do,'' says Bush, by way of explaining that it is the job of state government, not the federal government, to set priorities and standards.
''Local is not enough,'' says Gore, who did a good job arguing that he is not for bigger government but for smaller, smarter government.
Gore needed to perform well just to keep his hopes alive. He did. Bush could have closed the sale with the voters, but didn't. Why not? It's very curious, George.
Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.
