For nearly the entire tenure of the sixyear Clinton administration, Vice-President Al Gore has had to endure the barbs and cavalier dismissals from the pundits, the essence of which were that Al Gore is No Bill Clinton.
Mr Clinton, went the wisdom, was the natural politician, the charming and witty communicator, easy with a handshake, and generous with empathy. Mr Gore, though bright and efficient and hard-working, was stiff and reserved and, well, dull. Prince Albert they have called him, the Boy Scout, the Man Without a Pulse.
This week, to a populace that is likely to begin reading tales about acrobatics in the rear of the presidential limousine and descriptions of a young woman's unconventional and rather unfortunate employment of a fat cigar in the Oval Office, dull never looked so good. If Al Gore is everything Bill Clinton isn't, it will be a relief.
Albert Arnold Gore jnr was bred for the presidency from his birth on March 31st, 1948. His father, Al Gore snr, was a Congressman and later a respected US Senator. The family itself is of long lineage with a WASP pedigree in Tennessee (novelist Gore Vidal is a cousin.) To read Gore's biography is to read the story of a man who did everything right, who built a life that seems to have always been a political CV in waiting.
He graduated with honours from Harvard University in 1969. Then he volunteered for enlistment in the US Army, not even waiting to be drafted. After serving in Vietnam, Gore became a reporter with a newspaper, The Tennessean, in Nashville. He attended Vanderbilt University Divinity School and Vanderbilt Law School, operated a construction business and bought a small farm near Carthage, Tennessee.
Graduate of a prestigious college, military veteran, religious scholar, lawyer, farmer and small businessman. Have we missed any constituency?
Oh yes, the marriage and children. One wife, Tipper, who made her mark a decade ago as a crusader against obscenity in music lyrics, earning her the wrath of free speech advocates and the devotion of conservative religious groups. And four children, three girls and a boy named Albert III.
Gore was elected to Congress in 1976, then to the US Senate in 1984. He made an unsuccessful run for the presidency in 1988, but even then most knew that it was a test run, giving him the invaluable experience of a national campaign.
For the better part of the last two years, Gore has been campaigning to succeed Mr Clinton. Focused on his pet issues of high technology and environmentalism, his campaign of stealth, most experts agree, is the most sophisticated and disciplined political drive for the presidency in US history.
"The campaign for the Democratic nomination in the year 2000 is being decided while we eat breakfast," David Bositis, a senior policy analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, said in an interview with the journal, The Nation. "By the time most Democrats wake up to the Gore strategy, it's going to be too late for them to do anything about it."
Every couple of weeks, Gore convenes a secret group of advisers and campaign operatives at his residence to go over strategy. These meetings are so hush-hush, according to New York Times reporter Richard Berke, that they are listed on Gore's private schedule in code words - "Navobs" or Naval Observatory, site of Gore's personal residence. No copies are made of the agendas for these meetings, but Berke reports that polling numbers are analysed and travel plans discussed.
Indeed, Gore's campaign for the presidency is evident from his travels. He has made frequent trips to the Southern states, spending time with African Americans. His approval rating among blacks is 68 per cent. Of other potential candidates, only the Rev Jesse Jackson scores higher, at 87 per cent.
In the crucial states of New Hampshire and Iowa, which hold early primaries in the US presidential race and are considered crucial to gain momentum, Gore holds commanding leads in the local polls. And Gore has been particularly attentive to those states; last year he somehow found $250 million in Medicaid payments (social health payments) unexpectedly due to New Hampshire residents.
But perhaps no state is more important to Gore than vote-rich and money-rich California. Gore needs to raise $35 million to run for the presidency, and he has practically become a resident there, especially in Silicon Valley.
Credited with coining the term "Information Superhighway", Gore is an avid supporter of high technology. As long ago as the early 1980s, he was called a techno-Democrat. Unlike Clinton, who has only recently begun experimenting with the Internet, Gore travels around with an IBM ThinkPad computer, staying in touch with people all over the world via e-mail.
He pals around with people such as Bill Gates of Microsoft. (Technology guru Esther Dyson describes one evening last year when Gore took a boat across Lake Washington in Seattle over to the Gates mansion for a party that included a magnificent demonstration of handglass blowing by a renowned glass designer. The glass bowl, admired by Gore, was shipped to him overnight by Gates.)
The events of the last few weeks, however, have thrown Gore into a quandary. He must appear to be loyal and yet he must not appear to condone Mr Clinton's behavior. He has been supportive of the President's policies, but early on in this scandal he made it clear to the President's aides that, uncharacteristically, he did not wish to be kept informed of developments. In his public statements supporting the President, Gore has been vigilant in never letting the word "Lewinsky" come from his mouth, lest the Republican Party use a television clip of the moment to associate him with the scandal in any way.
In addition, he has a few of his own problems with criticisms mounting over his fundraising efforts that some say violated US campaign finance laws, although no charges have been brought.
In the final irony, it is Gore's loyalty, unexciting temperament and unarguable qualifications to be President of the United States that could hurt President Clinton. Historians recall that in 1973, Vice-President Spiro Agnew, an ill-mannered politician who was eventually charged with tax evasion, was considered to be President Richard Nixon's "impeachment insurance". The thinking was that Congress would never impeach Nixon as long as Agnew was vice-president because the prospect of an Agnew presidency was too terrifying. And indeed, it was only after Agnew resigned in disgrace and Gerald Ford became vice-president that impeachment became a serious possibility for Mr Nixon.
No such insurance exists for Clinton. Gore is almost universally respected for his statesmanship and competence. If Clinton falters, the presidency will be assumed by a career public servant who has trained for it all his life. That alone cannot be a comfort for the embattled President.