Bradley Plans Formal Launch of His Presidential Campaign

Former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, mounting a strong challenge to Vice President Al Gore for the Democratic presidential nomination, will formally announce his candidacy Sept. 8, his campaign said Thursday.

A statement from the Bradley campaign said the onetime New York Knicks basketball star will hold the traditional campaign kickoff in the small town of Crystal City, Mo., where he was born in 1943.

“Bradley will speak to hometown friends at Crystal City High School and spend the day in Crystal City,” the campaign statement said. “On Sept. 9, Bradley and local residents will drive in a caravan to Keokuk, Iowa, to begin three days of campaigning in the Hawkeye State.”

In fact, Bradley has been campaigning hard all of this year and has surprised many analysts with his strong fund-raising performance, although he still trails Gore in most national polls by a 2-1 margin or more.

Bradley spent Thursday in Chicago preaching racial unity, one of the major themes of his emerging campaign, to Jesse Jackson’s civil rights group, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

“Racial unity is not a project,” Bradley told delegates. “It’s not a political position. It’s part of me.”

Bradley said he would put “the full force of the presidency” behind breaking down racial barriers if elected in 2000.