Yes, the recent reshuffling of Vice President Al Gore's embryonic presidential campaign was noteworthy. And, yes, President Clinton's unsolicited call to Richard L. Berke of The New York Times to discuss the problems facing Gore's campaign was remarkable. But the media may be making too much of the two events. The press may be a bit too eager to conclude that the Gore campaign is in deep trouble. It is true that the Democratic Party is very concerned over polls showing the Vice President anywhere from 13 to 18 percentage points behind Texas Gov. George W. Bush and also running behind former American Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole. (It's small comfort to Democrats that Gore is running ahead of former Vice President Dan Quayle in the trial heats.) While there's no doubt that congressional Democrats, in particular, are showing signs of concern about the Gore campaign, there's also no doubt that it's too early for Democrats to push the panic button.
Indeed, when you look at some of the criticisms of the Gore operation, it does not appear that his
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