EW YORK - "Walkin"' Lawton Chiles trekked 1,000 miles across Florida in 1970 and marched right into a US Senate seat.

Lamar Alexander, the former Tennessee governor and presidential contender, was famous for wearing plaid shirts on the stump to show he was a regular guy.

As Campaign 2000 nears its end, Al Gore is rolling out the latest - but not necessarily the last - in a series of novelties aimed at attracting attention to his campaign and political message.

Beginning he will start each morning until Election Day with families and workers, talking about "kitchen-table" issues such as taxes, family life, and retirement.

P>This follows his decision to convene a panel of "citizen-advisers" from across the country to help him prepare for the presidential debates.

That followed his 27-hour "Workathon" over Labor Day with running mate Joseph I. Lieberman to highlight his affinity for the working class.

That followed his "School Days" tour, in which he spent the night with the family of a schoolteacher; the next day he went everywhere from the classroom to the cafeteria to learn more about school needs.

That accompanied his coast-to-coast visit of charter schools to mark National Charter Schools Week.

Jack Connors, a veteran Boston advertising executive, said yesterday that people in his business repackage products to extend the lifespan of those products. But, Connors said, Gore's efforts may be driven by a greater need: to connect with the typical voter.

"It seems to me he has to try very hard to be perceived as a regular guy," said Connors, chairman and chief executive of Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos Inc. advertising. "He seems to be an enormously decent, incredibly bright guy, but people don't buy brands that they either don't trust or they don't like."

An aide to George W. Bush, the Republican presidential nominee, was more tart.

"Al Gore has reinvented himself so many times in an effort to show that he's real and close to people," said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer.

"There's only one Governor Bush, and I think the American people find him more believable, more in touch, and more in tune with them than Al Gore."

Chris Lehane, the vice president's chief spokesman, said the morning meetings, like the events that preceded them, are motivated by the continuing need to break through the filter the media erect between a candidate and the voters.

"Too much of the coverage focuses on the horse race, who's up and who's down, so you have to find creative ways to communicate your substance so it gets coverage," Lehane said. "It used to be you'd have a rally and reporters would say, 'This is what Bush said and this is what Gore said,' but that doesn't happen anymore. Al Gore cares about what's going on in people's lives, and these meetings should help convey that."

The campaign is also planning a boat tour across the Great Lakes in the campaign's final days.

Yesterday , Gore headed to Columbia University to deliver a speech highlighting his economic views. Seeking to reassure voters he would be a good steward of the nation's booming economy, he was introduced by and posed for photos with former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin, who is viewed by some as a chief architect of the current prosperity.

The speech was sandwiched between appearances on two talk shows popular with women, "Live with Regis" and "The Rosie O'Donnell Show." Both will air today. At the first stop, Gore jokingly employed what he called a farm trick for hypnotizing chickens to try to mesmerize host Regis Philbin.

O'Donnell told her audience she favored Gore over George W. Bush, the Republican nominee. Then she asked Gore why he had been tarnished by scandals involving President Clinton "when it had nothing to do with you."

The vice president replied, "I hope it hasn't, because I am who I am. I condemned his personal mistake. I do so again. He's my friend. We worked together, we've been able to do some good things for the American people. I'm not trying to make this race about the past; it really is about the future."

In his economics speech, Gore told a largely student audience at Columbia's Low Memorial Library, "Let's cut to the heart of the matter: Both sides in this election have proposed targeted tax cuts. The difference is the Bush plan targets the wealthy. Governor Bush came right out and admitted it in Tuesday night's debate. My plan targets the middle class."

As he has since their final debate in St. Louis, Gore zeroed in on Bush's proposed $1.3 trillion tax cut, arguing that it would erase the surplus and halt economic growth.

"The policies put forth by my opponent are not only unfair and unsound, but they would hurt the economy," the vice president said.

Both Gore and Bush took time from the campaign trail yesterday to separately tape their portions of a dialogue that will air Nov. 5 on a "Saturday Night Live" political special.

The skit played off both men's gaffes, with Bush mispronouncing "offensive" as "offensible," and Gore claiming credit for a series of firsts and heaving sighs at Bush's remarks, as he did in their first debate.

Later, the two shared the dais at a New York political event. Gore also joined Lieberman and Hillary Rodham Clinton, a New York Senate candidate, at a rally for service union workers.