Bradley in an Uphill Race for Nomination

HANOVER, N.H.-Bill Bradley, former senator from New Jersey and so far the only challenger of Vice President Al Gore '69 for the Democratic Presidential nomination, harbors no illusions.

"I know it's an uphill race," he said of his long-shot campaign at a reception here yesterday. "But it's a race I think we can win."

Bradley crisscrossed New Hampshire this weekend, trekking from local party gatherings to the Dartmouth College campus, seeking to rally support for his candidacy. Polls have shown the former professional basketball player trailing Gore among state Democrats, who will vote in the nation's crucial first primary next February.

Bradley is banking on discontent with the Clinton administration's centrist record and anxiety among New Hampshire votes over the vice president's electability in order to win support for his candidacy.

At campaign stops across the state--a state Democratic convention in Manchester, a country Democratic fundraiser in Keene, a breakfast stop at the Dunkin' Donuts in Claremont--Bradley tried to paint himself as a principled politician, willing to take on "big issues" like race relations and campaign finance reform.

Bradley has a few significant obstacles. He trails the vice-president in fundraising--he has raised $4.7 million--and many New Hampshire Democrats have already decided to support Gore.

But he has one key advantage: Democrats who aren't comfortable with Gore have nowhere else to go. And many New Hampshire Democrats question whether Gore can succeed in a general election.

"[Bradley] has to show he's more electable than Gore," said Keene Democratic town Chair Eddie Albert, "because any Democrat is better than a Republican"

Bradley has seized the opportunity, making Gore's electability a campaign issue.

"Hundred of people have come up to me and said, 'I'm an impendent,' or even, "I'm a Republican, and I'd never vote for him but I'd vote for you,'" he said in a speech to Dartmouth students yesterday.

Bradley is also running on what he calls "life experience." He grew up in Missouri, was a three-time All-American basketball player at Princeton, played for a gold-medal winning 1964 U.S. Olympic team and spent 10 years play- ing professional basketball for the New YorkKnicks before entering the Senate in 1978. Thevice president, Bradley says, has spent most ofhis life in Washington.

"I had a life before politics, I had a lifeafter the Senate," Bradley said. He claimed hisexperiences put him more in touch with theconcerns of average Americans.

Bradley offered few specific policy differencesbetween himself and the vice president. He saidyesterday he would being "exploring" theirdifferences in the fall.

He did not take a position on deploying groundtroops in the ongoing Balkan conflict, butquestioned whether President Clinton had outlinedhis goals in the Kosovo crisis clearly enough.

"When you commit forces in the post-Cold Warworld, you want to succeed," he said. "But youneed to have a clear definition of what successis."

Bradley did put forward a few ideas that hesaid would be the centerpiece of his program aspresident.

The candidate promised that enacting campaignfinance reform would be one of his top priorities.

"Money fundamentally distorts the democraticprocess," Bradley told Dartmouth students at adiscussion in a wood-paneled room at the campus'Sanborn library. Bradley said he would supportlegislation that would ban soft-moneycontributions.

He has promised not to take money frompolitical action committees (PACs) in his owncampaign.

"I hold myself to a higher standard," he said.

In addition to campaign finance, Bradley saidhe would make fighting child poverty a priority.

But for now, his top goal is raising hisprofile among New Hampshire voters. At this stagein the campaign, he is traveling the byways ofNew Hampshire along with his wife Ernestine,courting Democratic support vote by vote.

In Keene, Bradley spoke to about 400 CheshireCounty Democrats at a party fundraiser, sharing atable at the $8-a-head spaghetti dinner withGore's New Hampshire campaign head Bill Shaheen.

In Claremont, a small town in the ConnecticutRiver Valley across the border from Vermont, hedropped by a Dunkin' Donuts on Sunday morning totalk to voters.

Newport resident Peter E. Franklin, a member ofthe Class of 1953, was one of about 50 people whopacked into the small shop to hear Bradley speak.

"He sounded very good today," Franklin said.Franklin said that for Bradley to defeat Gore inNew Hampshire, he would have to connect withvoters.

"He has to do what he's doing now," Franklinsaid. "Meeting a lot of people, in small towns, inbig towns, everywhere."

But other New Hampshire Democrats said theydoubted Bradley had what it would take tochallenge the vice president successfully.

"I see Bill Bradley as someone who is reallyrespected, but doesn't have the charisma, theelectricity around his campaign, that he wouldneed to pose a threat to Gore," said Art Ferrier,an uncommitted delegate from Canaan to Saturday'sstate convention.

Bradley has a ready response to suchskepticism. Quoting Celtic great Bill Russell, whomBradley played against during his career with theKnicks, he warned that leads in politics, as inbasketball, can quickly evaporate.

"It's easier to become number one than staynumber one." he said

"I had a life before politics, I had a lifeafter the Senate," Bradley said. He claimed hisexperiences put him more in touch with theconcerns of average Americans.

Bradley offered few specific policy differencesbetween himself and the vice president. He saidyesterday he would being "exploring" theirdifferences in the fall.

He did not take a position on deploying groundtroops in the ongoing Balkan conflict, butquestioned whether President Clinton had outlinedhis goals in the Kosovo crisis clearly enough.

"When you commit forces in the post-Cold Warworld, you want to succeed," he said. "But youneed to have a clear definition of what successis."

Bradley did put forward a few ideas that hesaid would be the centerpiece of his program aspresident.

The candidate promised that enacting campaignfinance reform would be one of his top priorities.

"Money fundamentally distorts the democraticprocess," Bradley told Dartmouth students at adiscussion in a wood-paneled room at the campus'Sanborn library. Bradley said he would supportlegislation that would ban soft-moneycontributions.

He has promised not to take money frompolitical action committees (PACs) in his owncampaign.

"I hold myself to a higher standard," he said.

In addition to campaign finance, Bradley saidhe would make fighting child poverty a priority.

But for now, his top goal is raising hisprofile among New Hampshire voters. At this stagein the campaign, he is traveling the byways ofNew Hampshire along with his wife Ernestine,courting Democratic support vote by vote.

In Keene, Bradley spoke to about 400 CheshireCounty Democrats at a party fundraiser, sharing atable at the $8-a-head spaghetti dinner withGore's New Hampshire campaign head Bill Shaheen.

In Claremont, a small town in the ConnecticutRiver Valley across the border from Vermont, hedropped by a Dunkin' Donuts on Sunday morning totalk to voters.

Newport resident Peter E. Franklin, a member ofthe Class of 1953, was one of about 50 people whopacked into the small shop to hear Bradley speak.

"He sounded very good today," Franklin said.Franklin said that for Bradley to defeat Gore inNew Hampshire, he would have to connect withvoters.

"He has to do what he's doing now," Franklinsaid. "Meeting a lot of people, in small towns, inbig towns, everywhere."

But other New Hampshire Democrats said theydoubted Bradley had what it would take tochallenge the vice president successfully.

"I see Bill Bradley as someone who is reallyrespected, but doesn't have the charisma, theelectricity around his campaign, that he wouldneed to pose a threat to Gore," said Art Ferrier,an uncommitted delegate from Canaan to Saturday'sstate convention.

Bradley has a ready response to suchskepticism. Quoting Celtic great Bill Russell, whomBradley played against during his career with theKnicks, he warned that leads in politics, as inbasketball, can quickly evaporate.

"It's easier to become number one than staynumber one." he said