Edition: U.S. / Global

TESTING OF A PRESIDENT: THE VICE PRESIDENT; A Fleet Gore Is Far From the Madding Washington Crowd

Published: September 14, 1998

This is the quintessential road trip for Vice President Al Gore.

In two days of travel through the Pacific Northwest, Saturday and today, he talked to enthusiastic crowds about light rails, planned growth, economic revitalization, Social Security, health care, education, coastal salmon and affirmative action.

Along the way, he shared the podium with Democratic candidates and elected officials and starred at eight fund-raising events, where aides said he had helped local party officials in Oregon and Washington generate more than $350,000 for Congressional and statehouse candidates.

In the course of all this activity, he made about as much news as the sun rising. His only mention of the report by the Whitewater independent counsel, Kenneth W. Starr, was a hurried and predictable statement on Saturday -- no questions, please -- that he did not think the case outlined against President Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky matter justified impeachment proceedings.

''Our story,'' a close aide to the Vice President said as Mr. Gore made a speech in Vancouver, Wash., ''is that there is no story. Maybe after the election, we'll step out. But not now. The country is stable. Why make things unstable?''

This is the protective bubble surrounding the nation's second-in-command, a haven of rarefied air that fairly floats above the political craziness along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, unconnected to any aspect of the boss's relationship with a young White House intern.

Inside the bubble, Mr. Gore carries himself like a politician without a worry, other than standard anxieties over close Congressional races in a year of midterm elections.

Scandal? What scandal? Mr. Gore never mentions it in speeches and is fiercely insulated by his staff from reporters. Two months from the midterms and two years from the Presidential balloting of 2000, he is but two things above all else, a Clinton loyalist and Presidential candidate. As his aides say, what is the upside for him to elaborate now?

And so, they say, Mr. Gore's campaign season will proceed in the same manner as the trip at hand, stuffed with frenzied days like today, in which he followed a five-kilometer race to raise money for breast-cancer research with five events before an overnight flight to New York, where he is to join Mr. Clinton at a state party dinner on Monday night.

Later in the week, he is off to Boston for an event with Mr. Clinton, then his third trip this year to New Hampshire, an early battleground for the 2000 Presidential campaign.

For Mr. Gore, the bubble is the ideal campaign vehicle. By assiduously avoiding sensitive subjects, he has cleared a path to discuss only his favorite issues, Administration initiatives that many Democrats claim have bolstered the economy and reflect voter satisfaction with Mr. Clinton's stewardship of the country.

As a strategy, it satisfies his main agenda, supporting Mr. Clinton and reinforcing policies that would be extended into a Gore Administration.

At the same time, Mr. Gore's message and crazy-quilt of a schedule are letting him fine-tune his presentations before partisan audiences. Listeners are beginning to see a politician unlike the 1992 and 1996 version of Mr. Gore, a self-parodied ''stiff guy'' lacking the touchy-feely qualities that make Mr. Clinton a hit along the rope line and elsewhere.

Mr. Gore has become more emotive in speeches, more animated and funnier. One of his best laugh lines generally follows a comparison of the Administration's proposal for a patient's ''Bill of Rights'' and the Republicans' version, which he calls a ''Bill of Goods.''

''You know, the Republicans are in such discord and disarray,'' Mr. Gore says with a straight face, ''that the right hand doesn't know what the far right hand is doing.''

For the most part, the reconstituted Mr. Gore plays well to the crowd, especially in places like here, which are geographically, and to some degree psychologically, far removed from events in the nation's capital.

''I've been doorbelling a lot, and I'll bet I haven't gotten more than two comments about the President,'' said Maureen Gallegos, a businesswoman who is running for a seat in the Republican-controlled Washington Statehouse. ''Clinton's sex life is his business. This district has experienced 20 years of growth in five years, and that is presenting us with a lot of problems to talk about.''

For some partisan Democrats, Mr. Gore -- at least for now -- may be the premier headliner to address them as he stumps for candidates, makes a case for Democratic ideals and raises money.

Paige Richardson, campaign manager for Brian Baird, who is running for the open seat in Washington's Third Congressional District -- Linda Smith, a two-term Republican, is running for the Senate -- appeared ecstatic that Mr. Gore helped draw 400 people to a rally in Vancouver, Wash., on Saturday. The event raised $30,000 for Mr. Baird, whose Republican opponent in what is expected to be a close race will be decided on Tuesday.

When Ms. Richardson was asked whether the crowd would have been as exuberant had Mr. Clinton been the speaker, she hesitated, a clear sign she was happy to have Mr. Gore.

''I didn't hear that question,'' she said, smiling because she did. ''I don't have an answer for that.''

Photo: Vice President Al Gore ran shoulder-to-shoulder in the ''Race for the Cure'' yesterday in Seattle with Camari Ferguson, a breast cancer survivor. He attended five other events before heading for New York overnight. (Associated Press)