GENERATION GAP MAY BE WIDER THAN DEMOCRATS THINK.(Perspective)

Byline: David Broder

This is a different kind of gamble the Democrats are taking this year-a gamble on a generation which has yet to produce a political leader who inspires national confidence.

In nominating the baby boomer ticket of Bill Clinton, 45, and Albert Gore Jr., 44, the Democrats have certainly broken with their past. Whether they have secured their future is another question altogether.

A dozen years ago, at Democratic National Convention time in New York, I was happily signing copies of my newly published book, "Changing of the Guard," describing this new generation of politicians. Among the many profiled there were Clinton, the newly elected governor of Arkansas, and young congressman and Vietnam veteran Al Gore.

It …