| Sumario: | Part of a special section on money and politics. The phenomenon of the pseudo-scandal or fake scandal is taking a political toll on Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore. The pseudo-scandal can be characterized as an ambiguous or outright false scandal that acquires the appearance of the real thing in the media as a result of dogged repetition of charges and investigations. In politics at the present time, the pseudo-scandal involves the distortion of an opponent's record and public statements. In the 2000 presidential race, the pseudo-scandal has greatly affected Vice President Gore. Pseudo-scandals surrounding him have involved mainly allegations of corruption, particularly in campaign fundraising issues. Throughout 2000, painstaking articles in a number of publications have exposed the emptiness of the allegations against Gore, but the charges linger in the public mind as commonplace knowledge. Repeated depictions of Gore as scandal-tainted could turn out to be important, even decisive, in the November election. If so, it would be the ultimate triumph of the pseudo-scandal.
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