With the replacement of controversial campaign chairman Tony Coelho with Commerce Secretary William Daley less than five months before the general election, Vice President Al Gore's unfocused, sputtering presidential campaign has undergone its second major shakeup in less than nine months.

Last September, when the challenge by former Sen. Bill Bradley proved to be far more formidable than anticipated, Mr. Gore beat a hasty retreat for Nashville, attempting to disassociate himself from the Washington persona he had spent a lifetime fashioning. Subsequently, the trademark slash-and-burn tactics, for which the crowd that surrounds Mr. Gore is notoriously known, easily beat back Mr. Bradley in the Democratic primaries. But the Gore campaign never refocused itself toward the general election. This prompted Democrats across the country who will be forced to sharethe ballot with Mr. Gore to complain about the questionable post-primary tactics of their party's standard-bearer. Meanwhile, within the campaign, Mr. Coelho's authoritarian style encouraged his colleagues to unsheath their knives.

While Mr. Coelho's abrupt resignation was attributed to legitimate health problems, his departure was widely expected sooner or later. Apart from the turmoil caused by his dictatorial style, his highly questionable business dealings had become the subject of intensifying investigations by the Justice Department and the State Department's inspector general, much to the delight of his colleagues. Indeed, the internal dynamics within the Gore campaign had become so contentious that Mr. Coelho had been telling friends, according to Newsweek, that his goal was to get the campaign in shape by the August convention so that he could depart