Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston
Globe
February 3, 2000, Thursday ,THIRD EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A28
LENGTH: 743 words
HEADLINE:
CAMPAIGN 2000 / DEMOCRATS;
GORE, BRADLEY RESUME SPARRING ON THE TRAIL
BYLINE: By Ann Scales and Bob Hohler, Globe Staff
BODY:
NEW YORK - No sooner did the bitter race for
the Democratic presidential nomination shift from New Hampshire to New York
yesterday than former senator Bill Bradley unleashed a new assault on Vice
President Al Gore's integrity and their sparring over Gore's abortion record
started anew.
Gore, after shaking hands with commuters at Grand Central
Station in the morning, suddenly ditched his campaign schedule and boarded the
next US Airways shuttle to Washington so he could cast the tie-breaking vote, if
necessary, on an abortion rights amendment. Air Force Two was
not available because the flight crew had not gotten enough rest after an early
morning flight from New Hampshire. Gore took a front-row seat on the 9 a.m.
flight, with Secret Service agents seated behind him. Gore, who said he didn't
know whether a sitting vice president in recent history had flown commercial,
slept most of the flight. The vice president said he received early-morning
calls asking for his help from Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle and
Democratic Senators Harry Reid of Nevada and Charles Schumer of New York.
"They formally requested that I return in the event it is a tie, and the
only way I could get back that quickly was to get on the shuttle," Gore said. "I
said, 'Let's go.' "
But Senate Republicans, intent on denying him the
opportunity to further legitimize his stance on the abortion issue, had a
last-minute change of heart. They voted with the Democrats for the amendment
that would prohibit abortion clinic protesters from filing for
bankruptcy to shield themselves from fines and civil judgments.
Instead of a tie, the vote wasn't even close, 80-17.
Had Gore cast the
tie-breaker, the vote would not have come at a more auspicious time for the vice
president, who has been put on the defensive by Bradley on the issue. Gore, who
now defends abortion rights, once opposed providing federal funds to poor women
for the procedure and in 1984 supported an antiabortion amendment that defined a
fetus as a person.
"We didn't manufacture a vote," Tony Coelho, Gore's
campaign chairman, said yesterday. Asked about the political benefits to Gore of
returning to Washington for the vote, Coelho said, "It's a continuation of his
commitment. This isn't anything new."
Bradley, with a clear touch of
sarcasm, said, "The vice president supposedly cast a tie-breaking vote. I'd
rather be in New York, quite frankly."
Bradley's spokesman, Eric Hauser,
went a step further. "They clearly decided they wanted to be part of this issue
in Washington," he said. "It should not be used as a political football."
Despite Gore's early morning drama, he managed to get back on schedule,
taking Air Force Two to Columbus, Ohio, where he spoke at a rally at Ohio State
University, promising, among other things, to fight for "a woman's right to
choose." Then he flew to Los Angeles.
While Gore was in Washington,
Bradley kicked off his push toward the March 7 primaries in 15 states by citing
an incident last Sunday in Somersworth, N.H., in which Gore supporters
purportedly threw mud at Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska and called him a "loser"
and a "cripple." Kerrey, a Bradley supporter, lost a leg in the Vietnam War as a
Navy Seal.
"I would simply ask Al Gore to take responsibility for his
campaign and their actions as well as his own words," Bradley told supporters at
a church across from Washington Square in Greenwich Village. "When his campaign
demeans a Medal of Honor winner like Bob Kerrey, there should be an apology from
Al Gore."
Gore's campaign denied Bradley's version of the incident.
"We're not aware of anyone using those words to describe Senator Kerrey," said
Gore's spokesman, Chris Lehane. "He's a great war hero and a great American. The
Gore campaign would never condone that type of name-calling."
Bradley
told reporters in Greenwich Village that he would wait to demand an apology from
Gore until he spoke to Kerrey and confirmed the details.
But Kerrey,
without refuting Bradley's version, told reporters in Washington, "This is part
of politics, and the vice president certainly does not owe me an apology."
The contretemps came as Bradley sought to capitalize on the momentum he
gained last week with a five-day attack on Gore's ethics and honesty. After
falling behind by double digits in some polls, Bradley finished four points back
in New Hampshire, keeping alive his candidacy for next month's contests.
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