Al Gore

If the dictionary needed a photo to put next to the definition of “die-hard Democrat,” mine could be used. My parents and grandparents raised me to see the Republican Party as the tool of the rich. I never missed an election--not even when I was living in the mountains of Afghanistan and had to trek down to the U.S. embassy in Kabul--and no Democrat has ever been repugnant enough to make me vote for a Republican. I’ve been pretty enthusiastic about Clinton and his ideas.

Now I see that Clinton has decided to foist Tipper Gore, as potent a symbol of narrow-minded know-nothingness as a Republican ever was, back into the national political stage. I tried calling Clinton three times (to no avail) and sadly made a decision to give Ross Perot a chance. He could never be worse than Bush, Quayle or Tipper--never.

HOWARD KLEIN

Burbank