Political gridlock is taking over New York.

Political gridlock has taken over New York. Pass a hotel and pop into a fundraiser. That's what we did recently.

First, we caught Vice President Al Gore at the Women's Luncheon at the Grand Hyatt, where he was touchingly introduced by daughter Karenna, now a married Columbia University law student whose son, Wyatt; was born to this political family appropriately on the 4th of July.

Standing before the blue and white Gore 2000 campaign I go of a shooting star, Gore preached to the converted with a speech that focused on the challenges of families.

These were themed towards the fatigue of working women - "they are exhausted"; working families; the education needed to make kids employable; the health-care to keep them health by allowing them access to doctors in spite of their HMOs; the ability to chose when to have children; adjusting the tax code to dump the marriage penalty; tax incentives for employers who provide child care, so as to keep the parents working; a raise in the minimum wage to keep them happy (BTW, they could also afford to pay more rent); and stricter gun laws to keep the "evil we pons out of the hands of the evil doers."

This Washington insider is recasting himself as the scrappy underdog who came from a poor family. His late father was originally a teacher, and his now 87-year-old mother bucked the system to become one of the first women to graduate from Vanderbilt University Law School, then becoming a divorce lawyer in Tennessee. It wasn't quite Day Crockett, but there are echoes if you consider the bear his parents fought was racism d the system.

Young Al learn d from dad, recounting the story of his f there taking him to the largest and most beautiful house in town for a gathering and marching him straight to the basement, where e was shown the metal rings in the wall where an earlier resident had chained up his slaves. "The impact of that moment never left me," Gore said. "There it was, the undeniable artifact of pure evil... a shock to the contrast of the genteelness and the harmony of the hometown I knew and loved."

That powerful image, he says, eventually drove him to become involved and fight for the changes this country still needs. And he implored the audience to stay involved in politics, too and fight with him to make those changes.

He swiped at "frontrunner" George W. Bush, criticizing e candidate's school voucher program, announced just that day, noting that this proposal was from a governor whose state ran ed 45th in SAT scores for the nation.

Gore spent time coming and going, shaking anyone's hand ho approached, and more than not, presenting a kiss and a hug as well. The candidate looked like he was ready to work for t e voters, if someone would only give him a chance.

Among the real estate people present were deal-making attorney Georgia Malone, who hosted a few tables; tax certiorari attorney Audrey Katz of Tuchman Katz Schwartz Gelles & Korngold ; Phyllis Schwartz, whose husband is a partner in that firm; Gil Robinov of CB Richard Ellis; Diana Gaines, who is joining CB Richard Ellis from JHP Realty Advisors; Trudie Mason of Healthy Properties; Carmen Lee Shue of her eponymous brokerage; and Beth Rudin De Woody, who runs the Rudin family foundation.

We stopped for our annual flu shot (who will complete your deals if you get feverish and have those achy breaky bones?), and then for some camera batteries and a press release, but ended up at a full tilt boogie fund-raiser for George W. Bush.

What a juggernaut! Bush gave a major policy speech geared towards his education reforms during lunch before the conservative Manhattan Institute, but we stumbled into the Fat Cat Fest.

Each of some 2,200 folks allegedly forked over $1,000 for a chance to eat the Sheraton Hotel and Towers buffet, get zonked at the open bar, mingle for an hour and watch the perfectly coiffed women elbow their way to the front of the blue rope to witness the Republican Love-In. .

New York State's best and brightest Republicans soon stood on stage in a line, mostly smiling at each other. These included Westchester County Attorney General Jeanine Pirro, Rep. Rick Lazio, Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, former Senator Al D'Amato, Lt. Governor Mary O. Donohue, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Governor George Pataki and his wife Libby.

We haven't seen Mayor Giuliani and Governor Pataki so friendly since they dedicated the New Amsterdam Theater. Borrowing the words of a "Family Double Dare" casting agent, "They worked like a team, made eye contact with each other and problem-solved with their heads together." These guys were actually flirting with each other behind Governor Bush's back, smiling that they pulled off the tremendous show of support for a fellow Republican.

Bush is an awe shucks kind of guy, coming across less arrogant than he has been portrayed.

After introductions by Veep hopeful Governor Pataki, Bush outlined his brand of compassionate conservatism in a speech that worked up to catching the cadences of America.

In rejecting pieces of his own party's puzzles, he talked about rejecting the Citizens of Gold for the Citizens of Character. He proclaimed that drugs have helped fail the children by creating one that could read and one that can't; one who will lead and one that can't.

In a dig at the Democrats, Bush said he would serve tirelessly to fill the gap and not be "a mirror to reflect public opinion."

He repeated earlier broached themes of the Era of Responsibility, where men don't father a child and then walk away, saying "That baby is not my responsibility."

In Texas, he recounted, when a man did not live up to his child support payments, they took away his doctor's license, took away his law license and then, he told them, "to show you how serious we are, we are taking away your hunting and fishing license."

The Presidential hopeful told the crowd he is a "uniter, not a divider," and was grateful to the donors - a big Wall Street crowd - for sharing their hard-earned money. He said he would work hard "rejecting ugly, negative campaigning."

Among the real estate folks spotted were owner Arnold Penner, Cushman Realty broker Dale F. Schlather, Frank Ricci of the Rent Stabilization Association, and owners Bernard Mendik and Jerry Speyer. The MTA's E. Virgil Conway of the MTA attended with his wife, Elaine Wingate Conway, director of the Governor's Division for Women. We also saw Deputy Mayors Joseph Lhota and Randy Levine, and Finance Commissioner Andrew Eristoff.

The presidential dollar hunting season is officially open.