Here’s a political pundit’s idea of time off: sitting behind a table and signing books in the " Honey Fitz " room of Jamaica Plain’s Doyle’s Café. That’s where I found Chris Matthews, the host of MSNBC’s Hardball, last week. He was on an abbreviated tour promoting his best-selling book, American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions (Free Press).

Presidential politics is one of Matthews’s areas of expertise, and he’s taking a keen interest in the race for the 2004 Democratic nomination. As a rule, he suggests, all presidential races revolve around certain similar themes. For instance, there is the issue of the " old breed versus the new breed. " Former vice-president Al Gore falls short by this measure in two ways: his platform and candidacy certainly aren’t new, but the old Democratic establishment may not embrace him either. " I’m not sure Gore qualifies as the establishment candidate, " Matthews says. " The establishment is looking for a winner, and Gore isn’t it. " Gore’s prospects will weaken " if he starts to get knocked off in two or three primaries and doesn’t win. "

Nevertheless, Matthews says, Massachusetts senator John Kerry still faces an uphill battle to defeat Gore. The pundit adds, however, that he saw something in Kerry when the prospective presidential candidate and decorated Vietnam veteran participated in an episode of Hardball broadcast from the campus of the Citadel, a private military academy, in Charleston, South Carolina. There, Kerry led a discussion with a roomful of hawkish cadets. " It was 110 degrees in that room, " Matthews recalls. " Kerry stood his ground. He was so strong. "

In a debate between the senator and the former vice-president, Matthews figures Kerry would do well: " In a debate with Gore, he’d be awesome. "