It was only a matter of time, but it still seems too soon. In the past week, Mr. George W. Bush, the governor of Texas, and Mr. Al Gore, the vice president, officially opened campaigns for the U.S. presidential elections to be held in November next year. The two men are not the only candidates in the race, but they are the front-runners; at this point, the nominations are theirs to lose.

As the two men square off, it may seem as though they are staring into a mirror. Both come from political families, and each will have to work to establish his own identity as a candidate. Mr. Gore is doubly burdened with the perceived sins of the Clinton administration; such is every vice president's lot. (This century, only one sitting vice president has vaulted directly into the commander-in-chief's chair. Ironically, it was Mr. Bush's father who accomplished that feat in 1988.)

Mr. Bush probably has a slight advantage over his rival, who spent 16 years in the Congress before moving to the White House, since the governor has never been a Washington insider. In the United States, few labels carry more sting than "Beltway professional." Mr. Gore has countered on two fronts. First, he argues that experience is needed to make Washington run properly, a strategy that also hits at the core of Mr. Bush's campaign -- his success in uniting his state behind him and mobilizing its diverse constituencies to pursue his priorities. Second, Mr. Gore is reshaping his image. He opened his campaign in his hometown of Carthage, Tenn., and his speech emphasized the values of small-town America, a theme that every candidate will repeat ad infinitum in the months ahead.