Michael Kelly Mort Kondracke Ch. The theme that is likely to get the most stress at Al Gore's coming-out party this week at the Democratic National Convention is likely to be the economy, stupid. The Clinton-Gore team has presided over nearly eight years of uninterrupted economic growth, a modern record. Unemployment is at levels not seen since the roaring '60s.
Inflation remains under control.
Productivity is bounding ahead. The stock market, even after this spring's wring-out, has more than tripled in value. But there are several reasons to question whether Gore can sell the notion that he had much more to do with the rising economy than the proverbial rooster had with the rising sun. In fact, economists agree that the current recovery actually began in late 1991 while Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush's father was still in the White House. Not until the economy had absorbed the Bush and Clinton tax did the expansion begin to heat up.