But now, survival is not enough. Bush must demonstrate competence and seriousness and show that he really wants to become president and has something to accomplish. Is that all. Everything will be on his shoulders. It energized our supporters.
People are nervous and that's good.
Your head is always in the ballgame when it's close. Some Republicans on Capitol Hill think it's a little too close, however, and point out that making up ground on Gore is difficult because he is a moving, almost twitching, target. Gore knows what it feels like to be down, and he doesn't want to be there again. Last week, for instance, Gore stood in front of a field of 200,000-gallon petroleum tanks in Southern Maryland and called on President Clinton to release crude oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help bring down the costs of home heating oil this winter. Bush battered away at Gore for being outrageously political and was probably not surprised when the administration said it liked Gore's idea so much that it was releasing even more oil than he asked for.