After all, distance from the president is precisely the image Gore's handlers want to project. But the handlers and the pundits need to take the Constitution into account. But constitutionally it's risky business. A sitting vice president running for president is different from all other contenders. Unlike the others, he could become president at any moment, and so he must not say things that could compromise his delicate role as next in line.
History makes clear what's at stake.
Start with the Founding. The vice presidency emerged late in the Philadelphia Convention, largely as a device to grease the presidential selection process. Having Congress directly select the president would make the executive branch too dependent on the legislative branch. But Southerners wouldn't stand for direct election of the president because slave states would get no credit for their human chattel. Not surprisingly, Virginians dominated the early presidency, holding the office for 32 of the first 36 years of its existence.