December 20, 1999
Web posted at: 6:26 p.m. EST (2326 GMT)

WASHINGTON -- The president of Kazakhstan came to Washington on Monday, and Vice President Al Gore greeted him before President Bill Clinton.

That's because Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic, is part of Gore's portfolio. For seven years, Clinton has looked to his vice president for advice and counsel on international matters.

"He is the most effective and influential vice president who has ever served," Clinton said of Gore recently.

Gore chairs bilateral commissions involving Egypt, South Africa, Russia and Ukraine. He helped persuade Ukraine and Kazakhstan to dismantle their nuclear weapons. His relationship with former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin led Russia to pressure Yugoslavia to agree to a diplomatic end to NATO's air assault over Kosovo earlier this year.

"He knows there's a place for force in the world and he also knows there's a point of no return in dealing with certain kinds of other governments," said Leon S. Feurth, the vice president's national security adviser. "And after those points of no return have been reached, the United States either pulls the trigger or is exposed as having engaged in a bluff, and he doesn't believe in bluffing."

But influence and involvement carry a price. When U.S. policy comes under fire, so does the vice president -- particularly on China, where he has been heavily involved.

The vice president has had a lifetime fascination with international affairs -- as a soldier in Vietnam and as a young congressman with a specialty in nuclear proliferation and arms control.

As a senator, he was one of the few Democrats to support President George Bush's decision to strike Iraq, and as vice president, his well-known knowledge of environmentalism also has come to play on international affairs. He personally intervened to rescue the global warming treaty in Kyoto, Japan, two years ago.

Clinton picked Gore to be vice president in part because of his international expertise. But all of the leading candidates for president believe the United States should be involved in the world, so it is unclear whether the vice president's expertise will help elect him president.

Monday, December 20, 1999

• Juanita Broaddrick sues Clinton Administration over alleged 'smear campaign'
• Video: Bush, Gore fight insurgent rivals
• Clinton shops online for the first time
• Gore's international affairs knowledge has plusses, minuses
• McCain, Forbes favor keeping 'don't ask, don't tell' policy
• Des Moines Register: Campaign cash -- Who gets what, and from whom?
• Clinton Administration wants to double funding to trace gun criminals
• Reagan's condition deteriorates
• Des Moines Register: Candidate mates tread lightly
• Bush says he doesn't believe federal report on Texas hunger
• Trump to visit Ventura in January
• McCain criticizes Clinton's national forest order
• McCain addresses health care, terrorism
• McCain works on tax break package for teachers
• Searching for a way to make history forget impeachment
• From White House to schoolhouse, billionaire exerts power behind the scenes
• Bradley support rising in Iowa, new poll says
• Gore repeats no ad offer, Bradley repeats "no"
• McCain campaign raises $1 million in a week
• Barbara Bush says keep abortion off party platform

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