The Clinton-Gore Third Way--a. k. a. the Have It Both Ways--has outdone itself of late. Only three weeks ago at the Democratic convention, Al Gore laced his address with populist attacks on big oil, big pharmaceutical firms, big HMOs and big tobacco. But last Wednesday, at his economic speech in Cleveland, Gore praised "American business, the engine of our economic growth." The concern for "working families," driven home just two days earlier in the candidate's Labor Day sprint around America, was replaced with a new emphasis on the middle classes. What next?

It is tempting to suppose that, having roused the Democratic base at the convention, Populist Al will fade away discreetly, and Wall Street Al will get on with the business of appealing to voters in the center. After all, Gore's populism always seemed a bit ridiculous. The candidate grew up in a hotel and went to a fancy private school. He scoops up business donations by the bucketload. He appears on the stump with Robert Rubin. He has built a career as a pointy-headed New Democrat. Besides, the pro-business centrism of the Clinton administration has yielded fabulous prosperity. Why mess with success?

So Gore may stick with his intermittent populism, calculating that disgruntlement with prosperity is stronger than the fear that prosperity might stop. The strategy may work better with some groups than with others: Gore is ahead 20 points or so among women, who are less likely to work or own stocks than men and therefore are less likely to identify with corporate interests. But of course Gore won't restrict himself to this strategy; he'll also be posing as growth's steward. That's what the Third Way's all about.