From tonight’s NBC News:
Correspondent: Publicly, the White House today used (Al Gore’s) announcement to take a general swipe at Democrats.
ARI FLEISCHER: Somebody will emerge from the Democratic field who will ultimately seek to raise taxes on the American people.
(Ed. note: unlike Republicans, who only want raise taxes on the American people below a certain income level.)
Correspondent continues: Privately, White House officials admitted they had expected Gore to run, and weren’t relishing a Gore challenge, one official saying, quote, he did get five hundred thousand more votes than the President.