ALTOONA, Iowa--Another day, another senior center.

But this morning, it was a little different because Al Gore ran smack into a terrific human-interest story. When he finished his regular speech about Medicare prescription-drug coverage and asked for questions, a fellow rose and told him there was a woman in the audience with a tale to tell. Without much additional coaxing, Winifred Skinner, a feisty 79-year-old with white hair stood up and spoke.

She's a retired auto-parts worker who lives in Des Moines. As she explained, she lives on a Social Security benefit of $782 a month plus a union pension of $129.50, of which $111 goes to pay her Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance premiums. Because the prescription drugs she takes cost about $400 a month, she has had to go back to work, picking up cans on the street and taking them to a recycling center for a nickel apiece.

"How much do you make doing that?" Gore asked.

"You're not going to tell the government are you?" she asked. The crowd laughed and applauded.

"I don't want to know the answer," Gore answered. "I withdraw the question."

Mrs. Skinner went on to tell him about a recent incident. She was walking along the road collecting her tin cans when a man she described as a "35-year-old smart aleck" yelled at her from his pickup truck, "Get a life!"

"That kind of cut me," she said. Because without picking up the cans to pay for her medications, she explained, "I wouldn't have a life."

Gore, resisting his obvious urge to return to policy discussion, went over and gave her a big hug. "I think you've got a wonderful life," he said.

It was a sweet moment, the kind that candidates live for. You can bet that Gore will be talking about Mrs. Skinner a lot in the weeks ahead. In fact, I'd wager that he'll mention her in next week's debate in Boston--just a hunch. But what was most interesting about this episode was how strongly Gore's traveling press corps reacted to it. Before the question period with the vice president was even finished, journalists engulfed Mrs. Skinner to press her for additional details. Other reporters camped out in the adjacent filing center rushed in to find out what was happening. It was a miniature feeding frenzy.