WASHINGTON - The long wait since the election has offered intriguing clues about the likely governing styles of George W. Bush and Al Gore.
The Texas governor relaxes at his ranch, defers to lawyers and delegates responsibility. The vice president, in contrast, micromanages strategy, plots legal moves and argues his own case to the American public.
The 22 days since Nov. 7 provide a clear picture of distinctly different management approaches by the two would-be presidents. For some Americans, the agonizing episode raises troubling questions as well. Is Bush too detached? Is Gore too desperate?
Does either man possess the necessary skills to cool the bitter partisan fires created by the closest presidential race in 124 years?
His own front man, Gore races to television interviews in between conference calls with attorneys and political advisers. Bush, meanwhile, sits back and lets running mate Dick Cheney run the transition, hold news conferences and announce staff appointments.
''Gore is running the whole thing from his dining room table where he's got two phones, two laptops for e-mail and is involved in it hours each day,'' said Cal Jillson, head of the political science department at Southern Methodist University. ''Whereas Governor Bush heads for the ranch and does therapy by wearing cowboy boots, cowboy hats and cutting brush.''
Waving as he walks briskly from car to office, the governor seems to be trying to project an aura of inevitability to a Bush presidency. Andrew Card, his prospective chief of staff, spoke Wednesday about ''a President Bush'' taking office Jan. 20.
Gore, too, tries to project confidence. ''I sleep like a baby ... and I am not tortured over what-ifs at all,'' the vice president said in an NBC interview. ''And in fact, I believe we're going to win this election.''
In some measure, the post-election demeanors of Bush and Gore reinforce impressions stamped in voters mind before Nov. 7.
Gore was known as the man who immerses himself in details, works like a bulldog, refuses to give up. He is not at ease on the public stage.
Bush relies on trusted advisers like James H. Baker III, sketches broad goals and leaves the details to the lieutenants. He tries to use charm to bridge political gaps. He has not seemed comfortable in recent televised appearances and has generally avoided reporters' questions.
''This is strange territory and they're kind of in a limbo,'' said Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas. ''They're trying to strike the right tone without being precisely sure what that is.''
Referring to the public face presented by Bush and Gore, Buchanan said, ''It's kind of an extension of what we knew and it raises a question, especially in the case of Bush. He looks exceptionally hands off during this period. There's no footprints or no evidence of his signature on anything.''
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, told reporters in Washington that Bush was a little tired of the wrangling. ''I wouldn't say he's discouraged or angry. He's just sort of, 'What's next?'''
''He's been spending as much time as he can at the ranch,'' Armey said of Bush. ''He doesn't have a TV out at his ranch. I wonder how long that will last?''
Whoever eventually wins the White House will have to retool and scale down his once-grand agenda to accommodate the sharp divide in Congress and the post-election bitterness on both sides.
''I think they now know - and it will become even clearer to them - that the list needs to be shorter and shifted to more moderate ground than they would have chosen, all of the things being equal,'' said Jillson.
For Gore it would require big compromises on his ambitious spending increases for schools, expanding Medicare with a prescription drug program and enhancing Social Security.
For Bush, it probably means stepping back from his $1.3 trillion tax cut, his revolutionary plan for a partial privatization of Social Security and his promise to abolish inheritance taxes. Jillson suggested that Bush's proposal for school vouchers might be reduced to an experiment program.
Armey said Bush's agenda would begin with education. ''He speaks of that first.'' And it would include ''some good tax relief,'' Armey said.
''Certainly the more controversial issues, the broad tax cuts, are going to be off the table,'' said Bush ally, Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Arkansas. ''It is just not going to happen. So we are going to have to pick things (in) areas in which there is bipartisan support.''
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Editors Note: Terry Hunt has covered the Reagan, Bush and Clinton presidencies for The Associated Press
