THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Campaign Watch; Democrats Use TV To Ride Momentum

Published: July 23, 1992

"It's amazing," Senator Al Gore confessed to Steve Fox as they chatted today on ABC's "Good Morning America" about the crowds lining the Clinton-Gore bus route. But Mr. Fox didn't need encouragement. He was amazed himself, describing the crowds as "astonishing."

By the time the bus pulled into St. Louis, viewers of "Good Morning America" could hardly tell who was more amazed: the Vice-Presidential nominee or the reporter who interviewed him. More and More Amazing

Mr. Fox: I noticed myself, as we followed you up to Vandalia, traveling in a press bus, what you'd have to call hardened cynics of the press looking out the windows and oohing and aahing at the crowds along the side.

Mr. Gore: It's unreal, isn't it?

Mr. Fox: The fact that people are out there is amazing, that they are gathering on the side of the road to watch you guys go by is amazing.

Most amazing, perhaps, has been how the smiling faces of Gov. Bill Clinton and Senator Al Gore and their wives have dominated the airwaves. Amid the networks' excitement over the Democrats' road trip, President Bush has been practically ignored.

Some reporters sought to explain to viewers that they were watching a scripted production. Yet Mr. Clinton's handlers know that commentary rarely mars the impact of pretty pictures.

Thanks to the bus trip, the made-for-televison poses of the Democratic ticket did not end with the close of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday. As if it were big news, the bus tour has led the network evening newscasts and eaten up long segments of the morning programs.

Turn on the television and there's "Bill and Al," in open shirts, playing miniature golf. Now they're chatting with truckers. Now they're tossing a football, now sitting on bales of hay. Now they're embracing their wives as they sing "God Bless America."

The relaxed pictures of the Democrats in small-town America were striking when juxtaposed with images of a frazzled -- one NBC reporter said "frustrated" -- Mr. Bush or his surrogates vying for attention.

No wonder Clinton-Gore advisers say they're in no rush to buy television commercials. The bus tour has been like a rolling advertisement, with the networks cooperating all the way.

When Mr. Gore told Mr. Fox that "one whole family had sparklers that they lit when the bus went by," ABC, as if on cue, came through with images of the family and their sparklers.

No matter that Mr. Clinton practically lived on airplanes for the last year. Buses have always made better props.

In the 1988 campaign, Jesse Jackson made waves when he rode to the Democratic convention in Atlanta on a bus. In his 1990 campaign, Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota grabbed free publicity for riding around the state in a battered school bus. Lot of 'Exclusives'

Every network had "exclusive" interviews with Mr. Clinton or Mr. Gore aboard the bus or in a small town along the 1,000-mile route. On the NBC News "Today" program, Bryant Gumbel asserted that many people view the trip as "a contrived attempt by two guys who are trying to be regular Joes."

Mr. Clinton replied, with a smile: "When we were playing miniature golf the other night, that's something we've done for most of our lives. We were playing touch football, that's a precondition of citizenship for young boys in our two states. So it wasn't a contrivance. We've had the time of our lives."

In one effort to portray the trip as less than spontaneous, Jim Wooten explained on ABC's "World News Tonight" how the Clinton teams planned every move at a stop, down to the hay bales. The trip, he said, was "as choreographed as a Broadway play."

But the words did not seem to matter. All that the viewers saw were the images of families on the bus route as they waved to the beaming face of a man who wanted to be President.