Gore Upstaged Hillary After Sunday TV Appearances

Al Gore may have slapped Hillary and Bill with his unexpected endorsement of Howard Dean – he literally upstaged the former first lady.

A New York political source close to Democratic circles in New York say Hillary’s folks are seething that Al Gore decided to back Dean when both Clintons are clearly opposing him.

But worse, our source says, is the timing of Gore’s announcement.

Some Hillary backers believe Gore purposefully intended to hurt Hillary and take the spotlight off her spectacular media blitz last weekend on the Sunday talk shows.

In an almost unprecedented situation for a sitting U.S. senator, Hillary was the star guest on the three major Sunday shows on the same day: NBC’s ""Meet the Press with Tim Russert," ABC’s "This Week" and CBS’s "Face the Nation."

"The media practically anointed Hillary the head of the Democratic Party Sunday,” source says.

But Al Gore apparently got wind of it and upstaged her. By coming out for Dean, Gore stole the mantle for himself.

Source says Gore’s timing for the endorsement was to send a nasty message to Hillary. According to The Associated Press, Gore called Dean this past Friday to tell him he had made his decision and wanted to endorse him as early as this week.

Source says Gore and his advisers would have learned of Hillary’s network appearances last Friday, the same day he learned of Hillary’s appearances.

Gore is fuming at the Clintons, believing he lost the 2000 election because of Bill’s scandals and Hillary’s Senate bid – which sapped resources from his campaign.

He is also angered that the Clintons have cut him out of major Democratic Party decision-making. Gore hasn’t been in contact with the Clintons for over a year, source says.

Gore’s upstaging of Hillary is particularly infuriating. Last month she expected major media attention on a tour of Iraq.

At the last minute, President Bush touched down in Baghdad and upstaged Sen. Clinton’s visit.

Twice in the past 30 days Hillary’s thunder has been stolen.

Editor’s Note: Find out about the bitter feud between the Clintons and Al Gore in NewsMax’s best-selling books "Catastrophe: Clinton’s Role in America’s Worst Disaster" and "Bitter Legacy: the Untold Story of the Clinton-Gore Years." Also check out our FREE offer for these books – Click Here