Doug
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[an excerpt]
>Rank-and-file Democrats still name Mr. Gore as their first choice
>for the 2004 nomination, recent surveys show. But a number of
>influential Democrats said Mr. Gore needed to be more effective in
>courting the party's monied class if he wanted another shot at the
>Oval Office.
>
>Even among his most ardent supporters, those who repeatedly opened
>their checkbooks for him, there are deep reservoirs of anger and
>resentment about the way Mr. Gore conducted his campaign. In
>interviews with more than two dozen contributors and strategists,
>most said they believed Mr. Gore was robbed of Florida and the
>presidency, but that his own missteps made the race much closer than
>it should have been and that they had seen little to justify
>supporting him again.
>
>"I still believe Al Gore won the election, and I appreciate how
>hard- fought the campaign was, but I don't believe it ever should
>have been that close," said Lanny J. Davis, a Washington lawyer who
>raised more than $100,000 for Mr. Gore and the Democrats last year.
>"And I still firmly believe he should have run on the outstanding
>record of the Clinton and Gore administration, rather than running
>away from it."
>
>Mr. Davis said he was supporting a potential presidential bid by
>Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, Mr. Gore's 2000 running
>mate.
>
>Another fund-raiser and supporter of Mr. Gore, who raised more than
>$2 million for the Democrats last year, said that many wealthy
>Democrats have grown disillusioned with Mr. Gore. "They want to be
>with a winner, and they just don't think he can pull it off," the
>fund-raiser said, insisting on anonymity.
>
>Another longtime Democratic fund-raiser said: "He is a bad
>candidate. He lost three debates to George Bush and that isn't easy.
>And I won't raise another dime for him."
>
>Said another: "In the donor community, there is a lot of unease.
>People feel he had his shot."