GOODY-GOODY IMAGE IS HURTING GORE

Poor Al Gore. He's a bore. The vice president's campaign isoomphless, so far, and his personality, or lack thereof, is takingthe blame. He's not dynamic. He's not exciting. He's not sexy.He's not Bill Clinton. You'd think that would be an asset. But poorGore is getting hurt by his association with the bad-boy president.

And he isn't being helped by his goody-goody image. Sure, he'spresidential timber. But the timber is too wooden. His wife,Tipper, is popping up on television -- she did "Today" and "Oprah" --to say how sexy Al is, in a reserved way. Her hubby is hot stuff inprivate, she says.

Personally, I'm ready for a politician who doesn't want to sharemy pain, and I'd just as soon Tipper didn't try to share theirpleasure.In a recent Gallup poll, four out of five people said Gore was agood husband and father. Most said he was honest, trustworthy,caring and experienced. But the majority also thought Gore wasuninspiring and lacking in vision.After the cheap thrills of the Bill 'n' Monica Show, you'd think agoody-goody would look good. Voters claim to value honesty,trustworthiness and fidelity. But they've been hooked on celebrity.In particular, Gore's lack of appeal to females is a big deal. ADemocrat needs to energize the party faithful -- mostly women -- inthe primary. Then, because male voters tend to go for Republicans, aDemocrat needs to win over women to win the presidency. Clintonwooed and won the "soccer moms" in 1996. According to exit polls, hedrew 54 percent of the female vote, a 12 percent "gender gap" overBob Dole.Women sided with Clinton during his year of scandal, even when itbecame clear that he'd cheated on his wife with an office bimbo.Only when the impeachment fight ended did "Clinton fatigue" set in.Just in time to hurt Gore, who's been faithful both to his wife andto his president.Gore runs better among women than among men. But he looks like aloser compared to his most likely Republican opponent, Texas Gov.George W. Bush. By a 52-42 percent margin, women say they'd vote forBush over Gore.A recent "Women for Gore" rally in Washington tried to generatesome excitement for the veep's campaign. The rally featured anendorsement by Hillary Rodham Clinton, who's planning to devote hertime and energy to mounting her own Senate race in New York. Gore'sonly competition for the nomination, former New Jersey Sen. BillBradley, struck back with a "Women for Bill Bradley NetworkBreakfast" the next day.Bradley was endorsed by Anna Quindlen, a popular novelist who wona Pulitzer as a newspaper columnist. Bradley is even more boringthan Gore. As a former basketball star, he can talk sports with theguys. But he's not going to sweep women off their feet and into thevoting booth.As an editorial board member, I've met Gore twice, once when hewas plugging his reinvention of government and again when he washyping the benefits of hooking up students to his Internet. He'smuch looser in a small group than in front of a crowd. And he's ahandsome man. Compared to Bradley, Gore is Ricky Martin. Butcompared to Bush, well . . .I don't really know where Bush stands on any issue except forschool reform in Texas, where he's been quite successful. I don'tknow whether he's a man of high intelligence, sound judgment, wideknowledge or strong character. But he's definitely got sex appeal.It's not just the boyish good looks. It's his reputation as a badboy redeemed by the love of a good woman. (His wife.)Rumors of nude table-dancing only make Bush look more interesting.A reformed sinner is a lot more fun than someone like Gore, who wasalways too sober to stray. By his own account, Bush's days ofyouthful indiscretion lasted a long time. Not until he turned 40 didhe stop drinking and get religion. But, unlike Clinton, he did stop.Gore hasn't had much luck spinning his personal history for thevoters. So he'll just have to run on boring old things likeexperience and issues, and hope that the hunk factor isn't thedeciding factor.