Why did Clinton choose Gore in 1992?

[TSIAS]

And is it true that their relationship is "strained"?

A lot of people in the MSM like to say that Gore and the Clintons simply cannot stand one another. I'm relatively ignorant on this issue. Is there really a deep feud between Bill/Hillary Clinton and Al Gore? Or is this just another media misreprsentation?

I know that Clinton's scandal caused Gore to run away from him in 2000, but what exactly has Clinton done to alienate Gore? I know that Chris Matthews, an admitted Hillary hater, says that Gore is loathe to lose to the Clintons again. But is this feud simply a media driven story, or is there really a divide between Gore and the Clintons.

[saltpoint]

1. Clinton made a good choice when he chose Gore as veep.

It surprised some people because Arkansas and Tennessee are neighbors and in the past veeps were often chosen with geographic regions in consideration.

Gore had Clinton as boss for 8 years. We may never know exactly his feelings for his old boss. I imagine they're mixed.

[ThomWV]

3. Who Said That A President Has To Like His Vice President?

If anything can be said for Bill Clinton it is this, he filled positions with well qualified persons. The same certainly can not be said for the current President or many of the others that preceeded him. Al Gore was well qualified to assume the Presidency when he was asked to join the ticket, he is even better qualified today.

[saltpoint]

7. You said it.

[Virginia Dare]

9. The Bushes and the Reagans very famously hated each other..

there is nothing that says they have to be great friends, but I do think the Clintons and the Gores were on friendly terms during their tenure. You're always going to have your territorial scuffles, but in reality, Clinton and Gore had a lot of political common ground. I think it will go down in history as a very successful team.

I think Bill Clinton was hurt by Gore distancing himself from him during his candidacy, and it was probably a mistake on Gore's part in hindsight, but in my opinion for the most part they've patched it up, it was never anything personal. They're all very different people.

[Jawja]

2. It was when Clinton chose

Gore that I began to pay attention to Clinton. I thought Gore was an excellent choice and that went a long way to selling me on Clinton.

[NewJeffCT]

4. I think he chose Gore because of his experience

Clinton was initially criticized as being the governor of a small & poor state without the experience to run things as the national level...

[Virginia Dare]

8. And also his military cred...

he served in VietNam and Clinton knew he would get slammed over his lack of service.

[ThomWV]

11. Good Observation

Nice to see you!

I hadn't thought of that and its a good point. Personally I never had any problem with Clinton not having served and I never thought of his taking that once in a lifetime opportunity to continue his education with the scholarship as in any way shirking his responsibility to his country. Certainly the education Bill Clinton took from Oxford was of greater service to his country than any contribution me might have made on the field of battle in Viet Nam. I say that as a guy who did 3 tours in Viet Nam.

Of course v'President Gore had also served in both the House and the Senate by that time and had family political connections that went back for decades before joining the '92 Ticket.

Anyway, you know how I feel about it all ... Run Al Run!

[BeyondGeography]

5. It was the youngsters vs. the oldster

Gore was youthful, like Clinton, added a state from the South, had lots of hands-on Washington experience (which Clinton lacked), was serious and credible about policy (both domestic and foreign) and was not too liberal for Bill's tastes (re-engineering of government, i.e. take the fat out, was his first assignment and they campaigned on that).

I'm sure Gore's antipathy toward Clinton stemmed largely from the Monica incident where he was forced to defend Bill's absurd behavior and then (in his mind) distance himself from a presidency that should have been an asset in his own campaign. One can criticize Gore for not making use of Clinton in the 2000 campaign, but one can also easily understand why he felt the need to carve out his own personal terrain after being caught up in Bill's self-induced slimefest.

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. Electoral college map.

The thinking was: break-up the GOP monopoly on the south any way you can. ( A slight risk that the other side could score in traditionally DEM states with two southern DEMS on the ticket.... but *only* slight.)

Also , Gore had Wash experience, foreign policy credentials ( both of which Clinton lacked) and had had nat'l exposure from his abortive '88 run.

[AndreaCG]

10. My guess would be

That the antipathy toward Bill has lessened, and won't be held against Hillary at all. Especially if he enters the race. He will be extra gracious toward Hillary IMO. And would win the primaries convicingly.

But that's just a guess. And a little wishful thinking on my part.