Copyright 2000 Daily News, L.P.
Daily News (New
York)
February 3, 2000, Thursday SPORTS FINAL
EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 6
LENGTH: 551 words
HEADLINE:
VEEP GORED OVER RUSH TRIP TO D.C. FOR VOTE
BYLINE: By
KENNETH R. BAZINET and WILLIAM GOLDSCHLAG DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
BODY:
Vice President Gore cut short a New York
campaign visit to cast a tie-breaking vote for an abortion-rights amendment
yesterday - but the amendment passed 80 to 17, making Gore's melodramatic detour
unnecessary.
Gore was in a such a hurry to get back to Washington that
Air Force 2 wasn't ready to go, so he jumped on a U.S. Airways shuttle -
startling flight attendants as he became the first vice president to fly
commercial.
Senate Republicans and Bill Bradley's supporters ridiculed
Gore's move as a stunt to shore up his pro-choice credentials. Bradley has
questioned them, pointing to Gore's votes alongside anti-abortion forces in
Congress in the 1980s. "I think it's political theater," said Sen. John Kyl
(R-Ariz.). Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) added, "Just when you thought you've seen it
all."
Bradley voiced skepticism. After being told of the lopsided
margin, he said: "The vice president's supposed to cast a tie-breaking vote,
huh? I'd rather be in New York, quite frankly."
But Gore supporters said
the Senate head count hours earlier looked like a 50-to-50 tie - and that foes
of the bill suddenly jumped in and voted for the measure to keep Gore from
getting political credit.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.)
seemed to confirm as much. Mindful of Gore's boast about his vote to break a tie
last year on a gun-control bill, Lott said, "We're never going to let him break
a tie vote again."
The amendment to a bankruptcy bill by Sen. Chuck
Schumer (D-N.Y.) prevents persons who commit violence against
abortion clinics from using bankruptcy to duck
damage awards against them.
On the day after Gore narrowly won the New
Hampshire pimary, Bradley stepped up his attack on "the old politics of Al Gore,
a politics of rancor and division, of grandiose and unfulfilled promises."
In a rally with 1,000 supporters jammed into Judson Memorial Church in
Greenwich Village, Bradley raised a new issue, demanding that the vice president
apologize for a clash Sunday at a Gore rally in Somersworth, N.H., between his
supporters and Kerrey - a Medal of Honor winner who lost part of his right leg
during the Vietnam War and who uses an artificial limb.
"Gore people
demeaned him. They called him 'cripple.' They threw mud. And I think the vice
president ought to take the responsibility for his campaign, and he ought to
take responsibility for those actions, and he ought to apologize," Bradley told
reporters.
The former New Jersey senator said he had waited to talk
about the incident because "I wanted to make sure I confirmed everything."
But Gore spokesman Chris Lehane said the vice president and his campaign
staff have no evidence it occurred.
"I'm not aware of anyone throwing
mud at Sen. Kerrey or using the words that the Bradley campaign insists we used.
We would never condone that behavior," Lehane said.
Both Democratic
candidates yesterday launched five weeks of campaigning leading up to Super
Tuesday - March 7 - when New York, California and other states across the
country hold primaries.
During an earlier stop at Trinity College in
Hartford, Bradley said, "The warmups [Iowa and New Hampshire] are over. The
national campaign has begun."
He playfully bounced a miniature
basketball on the podium to demonstrate that "the ball is bouncing on."
GRAPHIC: AP ALL HANDS As his host looks on, Democratic
presidential hopeful Bill Bradley responds to cheers from the audience after
making a surprise appearance on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" last night.
LOAD-DATE: February 3, 2000 
