ALL IN THE FAMILY.

• Author: Bruni, Frank

GEORGE W. BUSH AND AL GORE KNOW ABOUT POLITICAL POWER BECAUSE THEIR FATHERS HAD IT

Al Gore was born just a dozen blocks from the White House and reared, at least when Congress was in session, in a hotel set amid the embassies of Washington, D.C. George W. Bush knew 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as the place where his father worked for a dozen years in successive jobs: Vice President of the United States for two-thirds of that time, President for the rest.

Their paths of privilege took them to prep schools and colleges that were different in name but identical in spirit: Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., and Yale for Bush; Washington's St. Albans School and Harvard for Gore.

Politics pumped so strongly in their blood that Gore first ran for a seat in the House of Representatives--the same seat his father once occupied--in 1976, at the age of just 28. (He won.) Bush lagged only two years behind, making his own bid for Congress in 1978 at the age of 32. (He lost.)

Now, despite all the primary-season chatter about giving Americans a new kind of politics, despite the tussles in both parties over which presidential contender could bring a fresh and unjaded perspective to governing, the contest has narrowed to these two. George W. Bush is the firstborn of former President George H.W. Bush, and Albert Gore Jr. is the only son of former Senator Albert Gore Sr. They're political princes with different styles but astonishingly similar inheritances.

Presidential historians say they cannot recall a previous election in American history when the nominees of both major parties were such prominent political heirs. Since the American colonies formally broke with the British monarchy in 1776, heredity hasn't usually been the path to power--though there have been exceptions (see "The First Families of U.S. Politics," page 13).

Among the challenges facing both Vice President Gore and Governor Bush is how they relate to their political ancestries, particularly the degree to which they reap the benefits of their backgrounds while avoiding the drawbacks. That balancing act has been a theme in both men's careers.

NAME VALUE HAS LIMITS

"I don't think either of them is going to have a slogan of `Vote for me, keep the tradition alive,'" says Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist, adding that such blatant appeals to family status over personal merit would be likely to backfire.

The two nominees and their supporters say it is the men's accomplishments that have made them...