December 17, 2000

Many prominent Democrats who have steadfastly defended Vice Pres Al Gore are now saying it would be difficult for him to stage a comeback in 2004 and are looking to Bill Clinton, who can never again run for president, to serve as driving force in opposition party; say Gore was flawed candidate who squandered a prime opportunity to capture presidency; accuse Gore of not emphasizing Clinton administration's accomplishments during campaign; cite Clinton's efforts to have Terry McAuliffe, one of his best friends, named party chairman as indication of his desire to remain influential; photos (M)

People presiding over executions at death chamber in Huntsville, Tex, nation's busiest, are ordinary family men, not champions of the death penalty; Jim Willett, warden, Kenneth Dean, head of tie-down team, and others share their usually unspoken doubts about what they do, including their uneasiness with the detachment that allows them to go about their work; photos (L)

Roza Vladescu, 89, who has cancer, has a warm lunch delivered for $1 by a beneficiary agency of the UJA-Federation of New York, one of seven charities supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. Article, Page 60.

Fears of power shortages and skyrocketing rates spread across the West as California searches desperately outside state for electricity; there are also concerns about environmental problems that could arise from intense pressure to change normal schedules for drawing down water behind huge network of hydroelectric dams in Pacific Northwest; problems are compounded by abnormally low rainfall this autumn; California's problems largely attributed to deregulation of electricity four years ago, and there are widespread concerns that crisis has been manufactured in some way to drive up profits in selling electricity; photos; map (M)

From his base in northern Yemen, one of the Arab world's most militantly anti-Western Islamic clerics runs study centers for thousands of Muslim men. The cleric, Sheik Muqbel bin Hadi al-Wadie, denies that the work includes weapons training, saying his movement is a peaceful one that spreads the concepts of Islam. The Koran, he says, is more powerful than tanks. But the F.B.I. has long considered the centers to be incubators for the holy war that Osama bin Laden has declared against the United States. And in a region where the United States is still considered ''the Great Satan,'' the best advice to Americans would be: stay away. Article, Page 36.

Herbert Muschamp article hails Docomomo, international group of architects dedicated to conserving modern buildings and studying ideas embodied by them; says group, founded in Netherlands in 1990, has been forging a bond between two groups that up to now have been opposed: historic preservationists and enthusiasts of modernism; says Docomomo faces its greatest challenge in US, where modern architecture is reviled as enemy of history as it is nowhere else; photos (L)

Gretchen Morgenson Market Watch column questions wisdom of aggressive stock repurchase program at Papa John's International, operator of pizza parlors; graph (M)

A Foreign

Article on Saab 9-5 as car model that has been underrated and underappreciated; photo (M)

Performance artist and social activist Bill Talen exhorts shoppers at Disney store, New York City, in guise of Rev Billy of Church of Stop Shopping; other more mainstream critics of America's current gilded age of consumerism noted; photo (M)

Coping column on Brett Cook-Dizney, whose 'hip-hop' portraits are on exhibit at Brooklyn Museum (S)

Article on Honda Prelude as car model that has been underrated and underappreciated; photo (M)