Bradley and McCain May Be Teaming Up for a Cause

Aides to Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley and Republican Sen. John McCain said Thursday they were nailing down the final details of a symbolic joint appearance in New Hampshire next week to advance their mutual cause of campaign finance reform.

Under plans that were all but signed off on between the two campaigns, Bradley and McCain would join Thursday morning in Claremont, N.H., where President Clinton and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich shook hands in 1995 and vowed to overhaul the nation’s campaign finance laws.

A Bradley aide said an announcement from both campaigns would come today. McCain’s staff had pushed for making the plans public Thursday, but Bradley’s operation held back. “We’re still talking on exactly what Bradley and McCain will do,” the Bradley aide said. “One thing that’s certain is they’ll reiterate their absolute dedication to banning soft money.”

“It’s not finalized yet,” McCain spokesman Dan Schnur said. “McCain and Bradley both want the event to happen so we’re doing everything we can to put it together.”

Bradley and McCain would re-create the symbolic cross-party handclasp and call on other candidates to agree not to use “soft money”--corporate and special interest political donations that skirt strict campaign fund-raising limits--in the general election ahead.

The 1995 meeting between Clinton and Gingrich proved hollow as campaign finance reform stalled and died in Congress, leaving the two men blaming each other for its demise.

“Both John McCain and Bill Bradley have pledged to fight for campaign finance reform and get the special interests out of the political process,” said Schnur. “They’ve pledged to refuse soft money if they are the nominees of their respective parties. An event like this one is an opportunity to remind the voters how important it is to clean up the system.”

In July, Bradley urged all of the presidential contenders to agree not to use soft money in the campaign. McCain was the only other candidate who accepted.

Their joint appearance grew out of informal talks several months ago between Bradley’s and McCain’s New Hampshire campaign staffs, a Bradley source said.

While talking campaign reform, both Bradley and McCain have scoured the political landscape in recent months for donations to build up their primary campaign war chests. Both have also warned that they would take soft money in a general election race if their rivals refused to sign the pledge against using it.

Despite their nuanced pledge, advance word of the joint Bradley-McCain appearance was welcomed by campaign finance reform advocates.

“Any time you have a Republican candidate and a Democratic candidate talking about reform and making it a centerpiece of their campaigns, that can’t help but be good,” said Meredith McGehee, legislative director at Common Cause, a political watchdog group based in Washington.

“Unlike the previous two handshakers, these men bring a lot of credentials to the table and a real commitment. They’ve both spent a lot of political capital on this issue,” McGehee said.

McGehee said that Bradley has also agreed to appear at a Common Cause forum on campaign finance reform Jan. 12 at Hampshire College in Manchester, N.H. The forum would be moderated by Common Cause President Scott Harshbarger and would feature audience questions.

McCain has signaled his interest in attending the event, McGehee said, but he has yet to commit to be there.

Other candidates, among them Vice President Al Gore and former Republican stalwart and Reform Party contender Patrick J. Buchanan, are also trying to work out appearances, McGehee said. Only the GOP front-runner, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, has declined the group’s invitation, citing scheduling conflicts.