Now Gore has relocated his campaign to Tennessee, bought some new suits and changed his speaking style. But he’s still the guy who stood by Clinton, called him one of our greatest presidents and hid his fund-raising behind “no controlling legal authority.” Democrats know that a Gore nomination would make impossible a post-Clinton cleansing of their party.

Gore has of course reacted to your success with a newly aggressive campaign. The press has fallen for the notion that this is helping him. I don’t buy it. An Iowa poll, taken after Gore’s attack on you in Des Moines on Oct. 9, showed you continuing to gain on him. You’re dead even with him in Iowa and ahead in New Hampshire. In other words, in the two states where Democrats have seen a lot of both of you, you’ve made huge gains at his expense. The national polls will follow in due course.

Gore’s only hope now is to disrupt your momentum by inducing you to change your game plan. The conventional wisdom is that you need to begin throwing elbows with Big Al. Don’t fall for this. Don’t get rattled by his trash talking. The only way he can win is if he can draw your game down to his level. If you’re both roughing each other up, then his muscle might pull him through. Big Al can be a tough, mean player. After all, he’s the guy who introduced Willie Horton to the American public in his primary campaign against Michael Dukakis.

Resist the temptation to play Big Al’s inside game. Your jump shot is going in. He can’t stop it. Keep on shooting it. My former boss, Dan Quayle, defeated Gore in their debate in 1992 by staying on his message and ignoring Gore’s preprogrammed jabs and sound bites. In fact, I’m told that Bill Clinton, watching his running mate that night, was furious at Gore for not defending him against Quayle’s assault.

Let Clinton squirm again Wednesday night. Evoke the memory of your heroes–of Harry Truman when you defend your health-care proposal, of Bobby Kennedy when you explain your plan to attack youth poverty. These are your kind of Democrats. Bill and Hillary Clinton, it will go without saying–and Al won’t say it–are Big Al’s. That contrast is why you will win the nomination.