BY MARK SILVA

 In a dramatic attempt to distance himself from the Clinton administration's handling
 of the Elian Gonzalez case, Vice President Al Gore said Thursday that Congress
 should grant the boy and his family in Cuba permanent residency in the United States.

 ``From the beginning, I have said that Elian Gonzalez's case is at heart a custody
 matter,'' Gore said Thursday. ``It is a matter that should be decided by courts . . .
 based on Elian's best interests.

 ``It now appears that our immigration laws may not be broad enough to allow for
 such an approach in Elian's case,'' Gore said. The Democratic presidential
 candidate said he backs legislation proposing permanent resident status to Elian,
 his father, stepmother, half-brother, grandmothers and grandfather so a U.S. court
 can take the custody case.

 Gore's supporters hope this will distance him from an administration that has
 courted confrontation in the Cuban-American community with threats of
 deportation and ultimatums that reached the brink of crisis this week.

 In the sweep of modern history, experts say, the Clinton administration's handling
 of the Elian case could be one of the defining events that alienates
 Cuban-American voters from the Democratic Party.

 The outcome of Gore's highly competitive campaign for president in Florida could
 hinge on this sense of betrayal, observers say -- despite Gore's repeated
 attempts to stake a stance separate from his own administration. In a close
 presidential race in Florida, the Cuban-American vote is an election-clincher.
 Polling shows Gore faces a close race with Texas Gov. George W. Bush in
 Florida, one of the nation's pivotal electoral states.

 Gore has stated from the start of this emotional saga that an appropriate court
 should determine the future of a child whose mother drowned during their escape
 from Cuba. His Republican rival agrees: ``This case should be decided by a
 Florida family court.''

 On Thursday, Bush chided Gore's support of the residency bill as ``tardy.'' Bush,
 who in January announced his own support for another bill making Gonzalez an
 American citizen, said, ``I'm glad the vice president now supports legal residency
 for Elian Gonzalez. I wish he could convince the rest of the administration of the
 wisdom of that approach.''

 LINGERING PROBLEM

 Gore's inability to steer the Clinton administration from its continuing attempts to
 deport the 6-year-old could still make it difficult to distance himself when
 Cuban-American votes are counted in November.

 ``If Gore and the Democrats fumble the Elian issue, they can kiss the Cuban vote
 goodbye for a generation to come,'' said Rob Schroth, a Washington pollster. ``It
 is very seldom, perhaps once in every 20 years, when an issue comes along that
 defines two parties' positions [among Cuban Americans] as clearly as this.''

 Ironically, it was Clinton who succeeded in making the Democratic Party's best
 inroads in Miami's politically potent Cuban-American community.

 Ronald Reagan attracted more than 80 percent of Miami's Hispanic vote in the
 1980s, and former President George Bush rode that wave in 1988.

 Clinton eroded some of Bush's hold on the Hispanic vote in 1992, winning 22
 percent of the vote and limiting Bush to 70 percent. By 1996, when Clinton carried
 Florida, he was claiming more than 40 percent of the Hispanic vote -- and,
 according to some exit polling, may have actually won it.

 SWING VOTE

 ``In a close race [in Florida], the Cuban-American vote can deliver victory to one
 side or the other,'' Schroth said. ``When that vote goes in a lopsided number one
 way or the other, they usually pick the winner.''

 Dario Moreno, associate professor of political science at Florida International
 University, said Clinton was able to garner such a large portion of the
 Cuban-American vote ``by saying, `I am a Democrat you can trust.' The
 Cuban-American image of the Democratic Party has always been of a party that
 Cubans can't trust.

 ``Two previous events in history buttressed that,'' Moreno added. ``One was
 Kennedy's perceived betrayal of the Cuban attempt to topple Castro at the Bay of
 Pigs. The second was the 1978 Carter-Castro dialogue, which released political
 prisoners but also created an American Interests Section'' in Cuba.

 `THIRD BETRAYAL'

 ``One of the ramifications of the Elian Gonzalez case is that this could be the
 third betrayal, if you will, of the Cuban-American community.''

 Al Cardenas, Havana-born chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, calls the
 Gonzalez saga ``the exclamation point of disappointment on behalf of the
 Cuban-American community toward the Clinton-Gore administration.''

 Cardenas doubts Gore can erase his hyphenation with Clinton: ``If you decide to
 side with Bill Clinton in seven years of Cuban policy, then it only stands to reason
 that your faint words on the Elian issue are not going to cut the mustard in
 separating you from the administration.''

 Mitchell Berger, a Fort Lauderdale attorney and senior advisor to the Gore
 campaign, says Thursday's announcement should make the break. The
 permanent-residency bill was introduced in Congress by GOP Sen. Bob Smith of
 New Hampshire and Democratic Rep. Bob Menendez of New Jersey.

 Gore has opposed Reno for months. But the White House won't say what -- if
 anything -- Gore has done in recent days to steer another course. A White House
 spokeswoman says, ``The vice president doesn't discuss his private
 conversations with the president or other senior administration officials.''

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald