"Gore has a big Harvard network, starting with Elaine Kamarck at the Kennedy School," Broder said.

Kamarck, a KSG lecturer in public policy, played a leading role in the vice president's "Reinventing Government Initiative," launched during President Clinton's first term. She is now a senior domestic policy adviser to the Gore campaign.

Broder offered a caveat to candidates who rely on Cambridge academics, recalling how former President George Bush successfully attacked his Democratic opponent, former Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis, in the 1988 race.

Bush criticized Dukakis, who earned his law degree at Harvard, for having a "Harvard, boutique approach to public policy."

But today, even the leading Republican presidential contender, Texas Governor George W. Bush, a Yale College graduate, has assembled a team of Harvard-trained advisers.

According to Barnes, these alumni play an important behind-the-scenes role for Bush, who also holds a graduate degree from Harvard Business School (HBS).

Barnes counted Alan B. Hubbard, who met Bush at HBS and is now a wealthy entrepreneur in Indianapolis; Lawrence Lindsay, a former Harvard economics professor; and Bob Zoellick, who holds dual graduate degrees from the University, among Bush's top advisers.