Gore to name running mate

Bayh (right) mixes youth with experience

Democratic presidential hopeful Al Gore is expected shortly to name one of four US senators as his running mate, a week ahead of his party's national convention in Los Angeles.

The announcement will kick off a week-long tour through the battleground states aimed at eroding Republican rival George W Bush's double-digit lead in opinion polls.

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"I have not decided yet, but I will shortly," Vice-President Gore told Democratic contributors in New York on Sunday. A spokesman said the decision could come as early as late on Monday.

Democratic sources said the four senators remaining on Mr Gore's short list of vice-presidential nominees were: John Kerry of Massachusetts; John Edwards of North Carolina; Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut; and Evan Bayh of Indiana.

Big decision

Correspondents say Mr Gore is hoping that his selection, along with the convention which opens on 14 August, will give him the opinion poll boost he so desperately needs in order to build momentum for the White House.

• Mr Kerry, 56, is a 16-year Senate veteran and decorated Vietnam war hero, whom Republicans have been trying to brand as a liberal.

• Mr Edwards, 47, a former trial lawyer serving his first term, is tipped by many as a rising political star, but is short on experience.

• Mr Bayh, 44, is also in his first term, but served as governor of Indiana before going to Capitol Hill, and might provide the kind of running mate who combines youth with experience.

• Mr Lieberman, 58, is an Orthodox Jew well-respected in Congress, who analysts say could provide Mr Gore with ethical cover. He was one of the first congressional Democrats to berate President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

'Wild card' unlikely

Democrat campaign chairman, William Daley, on Sunday played down the possibility of a surprise candidate being named to run on Mr Gore's ticket.

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Two others on the short list, House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt, 59, and New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen, 53, have both said they do not want the job.

At last week's Republican convention, Mr Bush named as his running mate the veteran former Defence Secretary Dick Cheney, a choice which pleased conservatives and may help counter charges that the Texas governor lacks foreign policy and Washington experience.