"If Al doesn't run, the field's spread out," Rendell, the two-term former mayor of Philadelphia, says. "I thought maybe I'd be DNC chairman for two more years, then raise some money, then run for president. Then I realized it was ridiculous. They've never elected a mayor. It's tough enough for a mayor to make the leap to governor or senator."

Every politician in America thinks about running for president at one point or another, but few acknowledge the thought -- especially to the media. Hell, even the ones who are preparing to run in three years aren't admitting it right now. But that's Rendell.

At this moment, however, the irascible frankness of the big, balding, exuberant Rendell is causing him a few problems. The man the City of Brotherly Love loves like a brother is being accused of being a disloyal egomaniac by Democrats in the swamp that is Washington. And that's a problem, since Rendell is running for governor of Pennsylvania and needs support from anywhere he can get it. Instead, Rendell finds himself ready to face off the son of a former popular governor, Bob Casey, as well as a party still looking for someone to blame for Al Gore's defeat last fall.

It's a curse of public life that men and women who work hard for decades can become most famous for an ill-conceived 15 seconds. This is not quite the case in Philly, where Rendell has 16 years of elected office behind him -- including a well-received eight as mayor -- but in many Democratic circles outside the southeast corner of the state, the shoot-from-the-hip Rendell is known and resented for appearing on TV right after the Supreme Court issued its ruling, and calling for the vice president to concede before Gore had had time to digest the controversial, complicated 5-4 court ruling.

Not that the former vice president isn't willing to let bygones be bygones. Gore is scheduled to fly to Philly Tuesday evening to have dinner with a handful of big supporters and donors and otherwise big cheeses from the cheese-steak capital of the world to thank them for their past support -- and presumably to keep them on board for a potential 2004 run.

Rendell put the event together along with two big Democratic lawyers, Ken Jarin and Alan Kessler; he arranged for Gore's plane and is sending his longtime driver, Brian Copeland, to pick him up at the airport. He even discussed which caterer would be best.

Still, it's not a moment without some tension. Tuesday night will be the first time Rendell has seen Gore since he sent the former vice president a long letter explaining the comments he made on Dec. 12, 2000, in the immediate wake of the Supreme Court's decision. Rendell may have explained those comments to Gore, but he is still explaining them to the world.

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