Copyright 2000 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
February 03, 2000, Thursday 3 STAR EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 13
LENGTH:
825 words
HEADLINE: Campaign 2000;
Gore flies to
D.C. in hurry ;
Trip unnecessary as vote not needed
SOURCE: Staff
BYLINE: PATTY
REINERT, ALAN BERNSTEIN
BODY:
Vice President Al
Gore abandoned a campaign stop in New York on Wednesday and rushed back to
Washington on a commercial flight, prepared to break a tie vote on an
abortion-rights related amendment before the Senate.
The amendment, tacked onto a major bankruptcy bill,
would prevent abortion-clinic protesters from filing for
bankruptcy protection to avoid paying fines.
As
president of the Senate, the vice president must cast tie-breaking votes.
But Republican senators, hoping to deny Gore the opportunity to be
president of anything, tricked Democratic leaders and supported the
abortion-rights amendment, allowing it to pass80-17. A former senator also
hoping to deny Gore the presidency, rival Democratic candidate Bill Bradley,
signaled Wednesday that the combative approach he took in the last week of the
New Hampshire campaign would continue into March.
That's when New York,
California, Connecticut, Ohio and several other states conduct primaries that
will award a hefty and perhaps decisive share of the party's nominating
delegates. He stated 10 days ago in Iowa that his cerebral, reform-minded
message "takes time" and that he would campaign at least through early March
even without an initial victory.
"Don't hesitate to draw differences
between you and your opponent. I think that's a very important lesson," Bradley
said.
Asked if he will tone down his criticisms of the vice president
for the sake of allowing him or his opponent to emerge from the nominating
process without too many battle scars, Bradley said: "The people who are going
to say that are largely his supporters. They'd just as soon not be criticized.
But campaigns are a matter of drawing of distinctions, and so we will go
forward" with competing proposals on health care reform, gun control and
campaign finance reform.
Polls show that in the last week of New
Hampshire campaigning, Bradley closed a double-digit gap as he dropped the
pretense of a gentlemanly campaign and started portraying Gore as untrustworthy.
Bradley finished less than 5 percentage points behind Gore.
"We almost
nipped him," Bradley said, without mentioning that polls several weeks ago
showed Bradley ahead in New Hampshire.
Bradley's one direct shot at Gore
during his Connecticut stop came in a network TV interview. It involved the 1996
campaign fund-raising scandals, which include Gore's appearance at a Los Angeles
Buddhist temple where monks and nuns gave illegal contributions.
"I
still think that the scandals of 1996 hang over his head and he's got to make
further explanations," Bradley said.
Several political factors change as
the primary battle heads into the bigger states with larger minority
populations.
Bradley makes "racial unity" a centerpiece of his campaign.
But polls show Gore is way ahead with minority voters across the country,
possibly because President Clinton gets his highest ratings from blacks and
Hispanics.
Bradley's New Hampshire tally was boosted by independent
voters, but New York's primary is dominated by more traditional party regulars,
experts say.
Later Wednesday, Bradley conducted a campaign rally in
Manhattan and flew to San Francisco for a rally this morning, showing that he is
willing to fight on coast to coast. His campaign treasury is as big as Gore's,
who ended up in Los Angeles after a whirlwind tour that began with the
ultimately unnecessary jaunt to Washington.
Gore, who arrived in New
York at 1 a.m., got up a few hours later and went to Grand Central Station to
appear on several news shows and meet voters. While there, Senate leaders called
to alert him that a vote was likely to start at 10:15 and could be a tie.
"I said, 'Let's go,' " Gore said.
But because the pilots of Air
Force Two had not had the required eight hours of rest, Gore had to catch the 9
a.m. US Airways shuttle in what could be a first for a vice president.
As Gore's motorcade raced to La Guardia, sirens blaring, his staff
scrambled to make plane reservations, work out logistics to get Gore from
Washington to an afternoon campaign stop in Columbus, Ohio, and to find him an
extra suit and shoes in Washington.
Gore's motorcade pulled onto the
tarmac and dropped the vice president, his staff and Secret Service agents at
the outdoor staircase of the ramp leading to Flight 6355. The surprised flight
attendants welcomed the vice president aboard. Gore stopped briefly in the
cockpit before taking a seat in the front row, surrounded by Secret Service
agents.
Exhausted from the campaign trail, Gore slept most of the
one-hour flight as other passengers watched a Fox News interview with Texas Gov.
George W. Bush on the plane's overhead screens.
Upon landing, passengers
were asked to remain in their seats to allow the vice president and his
entourage to leave.
At the Capitol minutes later, Gore met with
Democratic Senate leaders and watched the vote. It was a landslide and he could
resume his campaign.
GRAPHIC: Photo: Vice
President Al Gore boards a commercial flight in New York to Washington
Wednesday. He was rushing to vote on a Senate abortion-rights measure;
Associated Press
LOAD-DATE: February 4, 2000
