ASHINGTON - He keeps creeping back into the spotlight, making announcements of giant proportions: a historic trade agreement with Vietnam, a broad plan for prescription drug benefits, a huge increase in federal budget surplus projections. And now, an extended summit for Middle East peace.
Few could blame President Clinton for wanting to end his term in a whirlwind of success. Except, perhaps, supporters of Vice President Al Gore.
As Gore has fought to match Governor George W. Bush in national polls, Clinton has cheered his vice president on, earlier this month calling him ''by far the most influential and active vice president in the history of the country.'' But by keeping active himself, Clinton has stayed on the front pages, causing concern among some Democrats that he is stealing critical air time instead of quietly ceding center stage.
''It can't be helpful,'' said Dane Strother, a Democratic strategist. ''To the degree that any attention is diverted from Gore, it can't be helpful. But how do you tell Bill Clinton, `Hey, quit being president?'''
Clinton has long been a double-edged sword for his aspiring vice president, of course. With soaring approval ratings and his renowned political charm, Clinton is widely viewed as an asset, and the shared accomplishments of their administration have become a centerpiece of the Gore campaign.
At the same time, strategists have worried about putting the two men on the same platform, out of fear Gore might be dwarfed by Clinton's overwhelming charisma. And of course the vice president has had other reasons to distance himself from the president. Gore often tells audiences he knows they've ''been disappointed'' by the current president, a not-so-veiled attempt to dissociate himself from the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal.
Now, the already-complex relationship between Clinton and Gore appears to have entered yet another phase in the days leading up to the Democratic National Convention next month. Earlier in the year, some Gore aides worried that Hillary Rodham Clinton would upstage the presidential race with her bid for the US Senate seat from New York; suddenly, several Democratic advisers admitted in interviews, the concern is also about the president himself.
In the last two months, Clinton has gone on national radio to propose a $79 billion Medicare drug benefit, summoned reporters to the Rose Garden to announce a revised $4.2 trillion budget surplus estimate, flown to Missouri to advocate patients' rights and to Russia for arms talks with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.
And then, in what has been described as a move to cement his legacy in world history, the president embarked on his current project: ending the 52-year conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, a negotiation that has been the focus of international attention for nearly two weeks.
Democratic supporters and many historians argue the Middle East summit rises far above domestic politics, and foreign policy cannot be put aside just because a presidential election is underway.
Asked last week near Camp David whether there were concerns the president might be overshadowing Gore at a critical political juncture, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart scoffed at the idea, saying: ''I don't think there's anybody here thinking about politics.'' Doug Hattaway, a spokesman for Gore, said the vice president accepts that Clinton still has a job to do.
As for the domestic issues that Clinton has continued to champion, some believe the increased exposure is a direct benefit to Gore. Addressing the soaring costs of prescription drugs is an issue central to the Gore campaign; if Clinton, too, is stumping on that issue, ''it helps focus voters on it, and that's helpful, because it's an issue we feel we can win,'' Hattaway said.
At the same time, Democratic strategists said, several weeks remain until the real kickoff to the presidential race, when a sitting president might be expected to pass the mantle in a more noticeable way.
After the Democratic convention - during which planners are arranging a symbolic ''baton-passing,'' akin to the ceremony in 1988 in which President Ronald Reagan handed off a torch to his vice president, George Bush - many Democrats say they hope Clinton will move into more of an advocacy role, campaigning not only for Gore but also for congressional and Senate candidates (especially a particular candidate in New York). If Clinton does that, then the recent flurry of activity could be interpreted as his final push, perhaps even orchestrated to benefit his fellow Democrats.
''What Clinton is doing is positioning himself to help Gore,'' said Sandy Maisel, political science professor at Colby College in Maine. ''I didn't think it was possible two months ago that you could get a rousing reception for Bill Clinton. But he has, interestingly, turned himself around.''
With all of Clinton's domestic moves and international travel, Maisel said, ''What has happened is he's started looking presidential. He's not the amoral president. He's being covered in a presidential way, and that's got to have a positive impact on Gore.''
Still, some question Clinton's motives in keeping a hectic calendar, suspecting his renowned thirst for adventure may be on display. In the last two weeks, he has met virtually around the clock with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, making, on two occasions, dramatic late-night announcements about how the talks would proceed - and dominating the next day's news as a result. And should the summit produce an agreement, the benefit to Gore may be distant, if at all, several Democrats said.
''It certainly doesn't hurt, but I don't know that it helps a great deal,'' said Jody Powell, who was press secretary for President Jimmy Carter during the first 1978 Camp David accords. ''Looking back to our experience, by the time we'd gotten all through with it and got the peace treaty signed in the spring of the next year, it didn't help us at all. And Carter was the one who did it.''
And there is concern that Clinton may resist taking a lower profile as his eight-year presidency ends. Stu Rothenberg, publisher of a political newsletter in Washington, said, ''Clinton is obviously the kind of political animal who will not go quietly into the night, if ever.
''This president likes to be active and is always trying to put together some other policy agenda or legislation or political point. And Al Gore is going to have to deal with it.''
