Copyright 2000 The Baltimore Sun Company
THE
BALTIMORE SUN
February 3, 2000, Thursday ,FINAL
SECTION: TELEGRAPH ,8A
LENGTH: 869 words
HEADLINE:
Gore abandons campaign trail for dash to D.C.; But Republicans deprive him of
chance to cast abortion-related vote
BYLINE: Karen
Hosler and Paul West
SOURCE: SUN NATIONAL STAFF
BODY:
WASHINGTON -- In a gambit critics dismissed
as political theater, Vice President Al Gore abruptly left the post-New
Hampshire campaign trail and returned to Washington yesterday for a possible
tie-breaking Senate vote on an abortion amendment.
But Senate
Republicans quickly made sure Gore's vote would not be needed, blocking him from
the publicity windfall his campaign would love to have on an issue that has
troubled the vice president in recent days.
Meantime, former Sen. Bill
Bradley turned up the heat on Gore in the Democratic presidential contest over
the vice president's controversial fund- raising role in the 1996 campaign.
Bradley, who lost Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire despite a strong
finishing kick, said for the first time that Gore needs to tell the country more
about his role in the Clinton-Gore fund- raising effort. "The scandals of 1996
still hang over his head, and he's got to make further explanations," said
Bradley.
Bradley contends that he would be a more electable nominee than
Gore because Republicans will make the Clinton-Gore fund-raising controversy an
issue in the fall campaign.
But until yesterday, he had refused to
directly criticize Gore's role, which included his participation in a
fund-raising event at a Buddhist temple in California and fund-raising calls
from the White House.
Bradley also said he has no intention of
abandoning his attacks on Gore, which brought him to within five points of the
vice president in the New Hampshire vote.
Exit polls indicated that
Bradley had gained support with his attack on Gore's abortion record. Bradley
says the vice president needs to explain why he switched sides on the issue in
the 1980s, and a Bradley TV ad implied that Gore is still straddling the
question.
It was against that backdrop that Gore's campaign announced
yesterday that Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, a Gore
supporter, had urgently requested the vice president's help in breaking a
possible tie vote on an abortion amendment in the Senate.
The quick
change of plans highlighted Gore's ability to use his office to gain free
publicity for his views. His supporters eagerly used yesterday's episode to
promote the vice president's position in favor of abortion rights.
"If
you have any doubts about Al Gore's commitment to women, to their families, to
their health, to their right to choose, today ought to prove it," Sen. Barbara
Boxer of California said at a Democratic rally featuring Gore.
But
Republicans denied Gore the chance to break a tie -- and thus maximize the
impact of his backing for a provision that would prevent protesters who are
convicted of criminal acts against abortion clinics from
declaring bankruptcy to avoid fines and court judgments.
The provision was inspired by recent court cases involving anti-abortion
groups that stage clinic protests.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, who had denounced the provision, suddenly switched
tactics and urged colleagues to vote for it.
Hatch explained to the
Senate that he wanted to ensure that "no one will be able to politically
demagogue" the vote. The provision passed 80-17.
By that time, Gore had
already tried to make his point, describing at the rally how he had been
summoned from Grand Central Station, where he was shaking hands with commuters.
Daschle and two other Democratic senators "called to say this looks like
it could very well be 50-50," Gore said.
"When they formally requested
that I come back to be available, of course my standing order of procedure is to
respond to the senators," he said. "Especially on a vote like this, there's just
no question about it."
Gore acknowledged that breaking Senate ties is
his job -- one of the few assigned duties of his office. That didn't stop
supporters from hailing his effort, which gained as much or more publicity than
the campaigning he had planned in New York.
"We are proud of you, Al
Gore," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat and sponsor of the
provision. "Not only proud of your record, but proud that you were able to be
here with us despite all the other things you have to do."
The trip was
so hastily arranged, the vice president had to take a commercial flight -- the 9
a.m. US Airways New York-Washington shuttle -- because Air Force Two wasn't
ready. Gore, who had only two hours of sleep, spent much of the flight dozing.
As a Tennessee congressman in the 1980s, Gore opposed federal funding of
Medicaid abortions and cast other votes with anti-abortion forces. By the time
of his 1988 presidential campaign, he had adopted a position in line with those
who favor abortion rights.
"Those early votes were anti- choice," said
Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion Rights League, who attended
the Gore rally. "But that was more than a decade ago. What's important is where
he is now."
It's hard to say how close yesterday's vote might have been
without Gore. Some senators suggested, though, that Democrats overreacted in
summoning him.
"It's not that hard to get Hatch to fold," said
Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter. "You don't have to bring in Al Gore."
GRAPHIC: PHOTO(S) Young backers: Democratic
presidential candidate Al Gore at a campaign rally yesterday at Ohio State
University in Columbus.
LOAD-DATE: February 5, 2000
