UNNYVALE, Calif. - The line started forming before 7 a.m. yesterday, and on it went for hours: the elderly, the infirm, the Internet wealthy, and the working class, all waiting in the rising heat for a glimpse of Al Gore.
They came for reasons both political and personal. Many, of course, wanted to show their support for Gore's White house bid. When he arrived shortly after 10 a.m., they stomped and cheered and whistled their approval.
Others, however, said the candidate mattered less to them than the chance to witness a bit of history on their home turf. Local schools brought students; class projects were in the making. Still, caught up in the moment, many of them roared their approval - regardless of whether they held a coveted red ticket that got them close to Gore or a white ticket that kept them toward the back of the overflow crowd.
''If I knew I'd have to stand, I wouldn't be here,'' said Evelyn Markland, 77, a retired secretary who walks with the aid of a cane and lives near the park where Gore spoke. ''But I'm glad I came. I like him and it was right around the corner to see him.''
About 1,000 people who live in Silicon Valley turned out to hear the vice president speak at Lakewood Park, where veterans in VFW caps leaned against trees, schoolchildren on risers serenaded the gathering, and men in union T-shirts served as a photogenic backdrop.
''Are you with me?'' Gore asked after outlining his positions on Social Security and prescription-drug plans. The clapping crowd made clear it was.
''I have never been afraid to, or hesitant to, stand up to the big drug companies,'' said Gore, addressing an issue Markland called especially important to her. ''Let me tell you in this day and time it's necessary.''
But, like Markland, many of the voters who were missing work or classes or who had driven 50 minutes or more in rush-hour traffic had trouble articulating why they want Gore as the 43d president. Instead, they tended to use the same generalities often heard in the stump speeches of presidential candidates.
They talked of Gore's good will, of his experience and integrity, of his willingness to speak for all Americans regardless of their bank accounts.
Rosalind Lam, a 20-year-old public policy major at Stanford University in Palo Alto and a former Gore intern, said, ''He works to find solutions to meet the needs of all Americans, especially the bottom rung.''
Charles Bradshaw, a 24-year-old from Oakland who is working on the campaign against school vouchers in California, added: ''I love Al Gore. I love that he's a good coalition-builder and that he's bringing forth the traditions of the Democratic Party by bringing people together.''
In praising Gore, many also blasted Bush, implying that their votes would be against the Republican candidate as much as for the Democrat who stopped briefly in their neighborhood yesterday. Carol Chicelli, 57, who owns a small computer software company in Los Altos, a Republican stronghold, said she likes both Gore's populist approach and ''the fact that he speaks in complete paragraphs.''
Marcos Rodelos, 23, an electrical engineering major at the University of California at Berkeley, said he supported the Democrats because his father is a union official, and he joined the rally because the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades was out in force.
''I'm a college student, so politics are the last thing on my mind right now,'' Rodelos said. ''But I thought this would be a good opportunity to see how politics works.''
The politics of Silicon Valley, populated with new money, tend to be conservative. But some InterNet types turned out for Gore, who added at least $3.5 million to Democratic coffers when he attended a fund-raiser Tuesday night at a computer tycoon's Atherton mansion.
''Even though I'm one of these Silicon Valley paper millionaires, I want a president who will do right by all Americans,'' said Brian Drygas, 45, a software trainer from San Jose. ''That's what being an American is all about.''
