Quid pro quo

Bipartisan brokering

by Seth Gitell

CAN HE be convinced to hang it up?.

Politicos are abuzz with the latest possibility for ending the presidential-election imbroglio: a political grown-up, namely Bill Clinton, should persuade Al Gore to hang it up.

That in itself isn't a big deal. Here's what is: the notion that Clinton would do so to ease George W. Bush into the idea of granting him a pardon. With the Los Angeles Times reporting that independent counsel Robert Ray is planning to re-interview Monica Lewinsky later this month, a pardon could come in handy. What would Bush get? The opportunity to set a real bipartisan tone in Washington. After all, what could do that more effectively than pardoning a Democratic former president reviled by his own party? Isn't George W. Bush supposed to be a uniter, not a divider?

It's juicy stuff. But Democratic observers and those close to Gore say that the vice-president probably wouldn't listen to Clinton anyway. Democratic political consultant Henry Sheinkopf says, "Gore will stop when Gore's ready to stop. No one will convince him otherwise."