Vice President Al Gore visited the area last week in the immediate aftermath, but didn't visit the predominantly black areas that were damaged.

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If there's one area where Al Gore is vulnerable, it's on campaign reform.

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"Had nothing to do with me, " Gore said as he toured the mudslide-ravaged area of Rio Nido, Calif.

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Daniel Gore of Orthogonal Partners, a firm that specialises in the area, says the aim is to find managers who are inventive in fields that are not congested by existing investors and in markets that may suffer from mispricing.

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Gore blasted back a short while later, saying environmental degradation would be impossible to avoid in the remote area.

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"They dispatched him to the area that Obama was surging, " said CNN analyst Donna Brazille, who managed former Vice President Al Gore's campaign in 2000.

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