A Nationwide Network of Fund-Raisers

Gore's extensive fund-raising network now extends from coast to coast.

In California, the vice president's chief money man is Walter Shorenstein, a San Francisco real estate entrepreneur who is reportedly worth $500 million and is considered the Democrats' key monied patron in the West. Another Gore backer is John F. Cooke, president of the Disney Channel. Shorenstein and Cooke declined to be interviewed.

"He doesn't want to talk about his relationship with the vice president," Cooke's spokesman at Disney said. Reminded that an interview would be confined to campaign fund-raising, the spokesman said, "They're one and the same as far as John's concerned."

In New York, Gore's team includes Jonathan Tisch, the Loews Hotels chief executive who sponsored a Gore-DNC dinner that raised $200,000 last October, and James Harmon, former CEO of an investment bank, who is credited with raising $3 million for the DNC.

In Florida, Gore's fund-raisers include attorney Mitchell Berger, who calls himself a "Gore purist" and who raised about $5 million for the DNC. Howard Glicken, another big Florida fund-raiser, owns two Jaguars with license plates that read: "Gore 1" and "Gore 2."

In Texas, Gore's team includes Jess Hay, a former DNC finance chairman who raised money for Gore's unsuccessful presidential bid in 1988. In Ohio, Stan Chesley, an attorney who has been dubbed "the godfather" of class-action lawsuits, sponsored a Gore-DNC dinner that raised $250,000 in Cincinnati a year ago.