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Al Gore: Presidential Candidate

The candidate I chose to do my paper on was Al Gore. Al Gore is the current Vice President of the United States. He is for the Democratic party and is now running for President for this 2000 election. I chose to do my paper on Vice President Al Gore because I believe that he will be the next president to be in office. With his support on certain issues and policies and also his experience, I know that Al Gore will be able to handle the presidency. I will discuss Al Gore’s brief history and background, his qualifications, and where he stands on certain issues. First lets look at Al Gore’s brief history.

Al Gore was born on March 31, 1948 in Washington, DC. He is the son of former U. S. Senator Albert Gore, Sr. and Pauline LaFon Gore. Raised in Carthage, Tennessee, and in Washington, D. C. His mother, Pauline (La Fon) Gore, graduated from Vanderbilt Law School. She was one of the very first women to graduate from that school. Both of Al Gore’s parents played a major role in the structuring of public personality and his political beliefs. Al Gore’s father, Albert Gore Sr. was born on a farm in Jackson County, Tennessee, and worked as a schoolteacher before entering public servicefirst as

Smith County Superintendent of Schools, then as Tennessee’s Secretary of Labor. Albert Gore, Sr. was both a member of the House of Representatives and a Senator also. After years later in congress, he left the senate in 1970 and later on worked as being a lawyer and businessman. Al Gore’s father seemed to be the driving force of his career, his dad was his role model. Albert Gore Sr. has just recently passed away in 1998 at the age of 91. His son gave him a well commemorated funeral, and told the story of his life. He died a good man.

Pauline LaFon Gore, the mother of Al Gore, grew up in Weakley County, and hen later on Jackson, Tennessee. During the Great Depression she worked her way as a waitress, while attending college. She later on went to Vanderbilt Law School, working to be a lawyer. Later on as her husband was entering the political field, she helped him on his campaigns. After her husband left the Senate, she returned to being a lawyer and was a mentor for young women considering legal careers. There are other inspirations in Al Gore’s life other than his parents.

Al Gore is married to Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson, also known as “Tipper. ” They went to high school together, and met each other at a dance during senior year. Like many other Presidents’ wives, Tipper was very much involved in politics. Ms Gore is very much well known for her role in the music industry, concerning the labeling of music that contains explicit content. She help put the explicit lyrics warning label on music CDs. The Gores have a total of four children: Karenna, Kristin, Sarah, and Albert. Al Gore is the person he is today because of these people.

Personality wise, Al Gore has some strengths and they are: smarts, instincts, credibility, world view, and he has an image to look upon. He is known for having a high IQ, although he didn’t do so well in harvard. He loves writing, and has written many books, including a best seller book called “Earth in the Balance. ” Gore has developed good political instincts over the 20 years of public service. For credibility, Gore does not back down from a challenge, he battled Ross Perot in a high staked televised debate over North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 and stood by Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky Scandal.

For world views, Gore has plenty of hands on experience for world affairs and he has been more involved in foreign policy than past vice presidents. For his image, Gore has a reputation of being a solid, loyal family man. With Al Gore’s strength’s, he also has weaknesses. He lacks charisma, stubborn at times, has difficulty connecting to his audiences, and has said to have perceptions of stiffness and artificiality. For charisma, although polls give Gore good marks as a caring, down to earth person, he really loses points when it comes to charm.

Gore is not spontaneous, he lacks the energy. He is also stubborn, he usually wants it his way, and when he makes a decision he rarely reverses himself. Gore has always had the problem with connecting with his audience. Sometimes he loses their attention, because of the tone he uses to speak. Lastly, people have said that Gore follows the book, he is stiff about things, and he might be artificial. He lacks emotion and people say he needs to relax more. Although Gore does have some weaknesses, his strengths are seen and noticed more then his weaknesses.

Al Gore and so do other politicians have their standings on certain issues. I will discuss a few issues that Gore supports. The issues of abortion, environment, and gun control will be discussed. Abortion has been a controversial issue from the beginning. Gore still does think that abortion as the taking of an innocent human life. He believes that abortion hould be the decision of a woman, and not government. He always defends a woman’s right to choose. They should also have the right to choose, regardless of her economic circumstances.

It doesn’t seem that Gore opposes abortion nor does he seek to make it an issue the government has to handle. Gore strongly supports the issue of environment. He wants to invest in clean air, water, land in a “Environmental Decade. ” Just recently, on June 2000, Gore promoted a new national Energy Security and Environment Trust Fund that would provide tax breaks and other financial incentives for businesses and families to evelop new technologies that stimulate economic growth, create new jobs and clean up the nation’s air and water.

Gore will also announce incentives for consumers to purchase more energy efficient and more environmentally sound products and incentives for cities to establish more efficient methods of transportation. Gore’s fund will help clean up the nation’s environment by offering financial incentives. The next issue is gun control. Gun control has been a serious issue for years. Gore believes that gun control should be nationally mandated. He wants to focus on gun safety, not hunters and sportsmen. He wants to maximize gun control within what’s politically possible.

Gore also believes that guns should be restricted if they are in the wrong hands. He supports the Brady Law, which will ban all assault weapons. He tends to be very aggressive with this issue. With these issues stated, I agree with most of Gore’s viewpoints. I agree with the issues of abortion and the environment. With abortion I do agree that a life shouldn’t be taken, but I also respect that it is the woman’s choice whether or not to have the abortion. This issue is not an easy matter at all, I think that both candidates ill have some trouble with the issue.

Now for the issue of environment, I think that this will be an issue that will be seen in the future. It is good that Gore wants to focus on the environment. This is an important issue because it does affect everyone. This place we live and breathe in will not always be here, so we need to preserve our environment before it is too late. In conclusion, from my point of view, I think Al Gore will have the knowledge and experience to gain presidency. He has done a lot for this nation concerning political issues. Gore’s personal background fits him as a presidential candidate.

With the knowledge of holding office from his father, and from himself, he is very motivated to become president. It seems like he does have the qualifications for the job. I have understood Gore’s strengths and weaknesses. They don’t seem to be too bad. His strengths are greater than his weaknesses. Gore’s policies and point of view of the issue’s make him have a different stand between the other candidates. By doing the research, I know now of what candidate I’m going to vote for on election day. I am also quite certain that he will have the upper hand in this coming election.

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