Gore's inner circle

(CNN) - While Vice President Al Gore has the usual roundup of political consultants and former staffers advising him, he also relies on those closest to him: his family.

Here is a list of some of the people that Gore turns to for political advice and counsel, both in office and on the campaign trail.

Tipper Gore
While she has a very different style from Hillary Rodham Clinton, Tipper Gore is her husband's closest adviser. A reluctant political warrior, she has nevertheless supported her husband in all his campaigns. She was one of the forces behind the decision to move the presidential campaign headquarters to Nashville, Tennessee, and she is often credited with humanizing her husband, who is known by his stiff public image. But sometimes her advice is not so good, evidenced by her support for a 1997 press conference in which Gore defended some controversial campaign fund-raising phone calls he made from his White House office. That press conference was the one that entered the now-infamous "no controlling legal authority" phrase into Gore's political lexicon.

Karenna Gore Schiff
Gore's eldest daughter is the latest member of the Gore family to join the political fray, advising her father on his campaign and heading up GoreNet, an effort to reach out to younger voters. The 27-year-old daughter gave the speech kicking off the roll-call vote that formally nominated her father at August's Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. She is mentioned often as a future candidate and the heir to the Gore family political tradition.

Frank Hunger
Hunger is Gore's brother-in-law and the husband of Gore's sister Nancy, who died of lung cancer at age 46, an experience that prompted Gore to speak out against smoking. Hunger is one of Gore's closest confidants. Hunger is a lawyer who was chief of the Justice Department's civil division until leaving in early 1999. Earlier this summer, he took a leave of absence from his law firm to travel with the campaign full-time.

Carter Eskew
The 45-year-old Eskew was put in charge of Gore's campaign strategy last summer and helped the vice president snuff out the candidacy of former Sen. Bill Bradley, Gore's lone Democratic primary challenger. He worked on both of Gore's Senate campaigns and wrote Gore's withdrawal speech during Gore's failed 1988 presidential race. Eskew works for the D.C.-based consulting firm operated by Bob Shrum, Mike Donilon and Tad Devine, which is working for the Gore campaign. Gore was criticized when Eskew was brought into the campaign because Eskew worked on the tobacco industry's ad campaign that helped thwart the Clinton administration's efforts for a tobacco deal. But Gore decided that Eskew was worth the trouble.

Tom Downey
Elected to represent Long Island, New York, in the House, two years before Gore was elected in 1976, Downey became friends with the vice president during their legislative years together. After his defeat in 1992, Downey became a lobbyist and has carved out a lucrative practice in Washington, including client Microsoft during its anti-trust trial. Downey helped Gore prep for his 1996 debates by portraying Jack Kemp and was set to portray George W. Bush this year until he received a mysterious package containing a videotape of Bush prepping for the debates and other sensitive internal Bush campaign documents. Downey immediately turned the tape over to the FBI, which is investigating the matter.

Roy Neel
Neel, another longtime Gore staff member, stayed with Gore throughout his tenure in the House and Senate and became Gore's chief of staff in 1993 when Gore became vice president. Neel was known as Gore's chief adviser on telecommunications issues and he left the White House later in 1993 to become president of the U.S. Telecom Association, where he lobbies on issues relating to telecommunications policy on behalf of the Baby Bells.

Jack Quinn
Quinn replaced Roy Neel as the vice president's chief of staff in 1993. He later left Gore's staff to become White House counsel, where he became embroiled in some of the Clinton administration's first-term troubles, including Filegate and Travelgate. Before coming to the White House, Quinn worked for 17 years as a lawyer with Arnold & Porter. He rejoined the same firm in 1997 after he left the White House but retains close ties to Gore.

Paul Begala
A political consultant who partnered with James Carville to help elect Bill Clinton in 1992, Begala is an adviser and strategist for the Gore campaign. Most recently, he has played the role of George W. Bush during preparations for the presidential debates. He worked in the Clinton White House for many years and served as a counselor to the president during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. He left in 1999 to teach a class at Georgetown University and also writes a political column for George magazine.

Leon Fuerth
Fuerth first came into Gore's orbit when he tutored then-congressman Gore on the arcane details of arms control. Gore had asked for tutoring when he joined the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where Fuerth was the staff expert. Fuerth is currently Gore's national security adviser and is one of the top foreign policy staffers in the Clinton administration. He would likely play a similar role in a Gore administration. Besides his work in the House, Fuerth also worked at the State Department and served in the Air Force in the 1960s.

William Daley
Daley is the chairman of the Gore presidential campaign but has closer ties to President Bill Clinton, who named him to be the head of the Commerce Department in December 1996. Daley left that post to head up the Gore campaign, succeeding Tony Coelho, who left for health reasons. Daley is said to be one of the most politically savvy members of the administration. Like Gore, he comes from a family with a longtime Democratic heritage. He is the son of the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley and the city's current mayor is his brother, Richard M. Daley.

Ron Klain
Formerly Gore's vice presidential chief of staff, Klain is now a lawyer in private practice but remains a senior adviser in the Gore campaign and often appears in the press speaking for the campaign. Before working with Gore at the White House, Klain worked for the Senate Democratic Leadership Committee, Attorney General Janet Reno and was chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Peter Knight
Now a powerful Washington lobbyist, Knight helped lead Gore's early fund-raising campaign. Knight was the first person hired by Gore for his office when he was first elected to Congress and he became Gore's chief of staff for all of Gore's tenure in the House and Senate. He also has run all of Gore's election campaigns except the current one. Knight has been criticized and come under scrutiny for his ties to Gore after becoming a lobbyist.