After Close Vote, Gore, Bradley Start Anew With Attacks

Hours after Al Gore’s slim Democratic primary victory over Bill Bradley, the bitter asides over character that emerged in New Hampshire flared Wednesday as Bradley demanded an apology for the alleged mistreatment of a prominent supporter and Gore sought to protect his flank on the abortion issue.

Even as he moved on to New York for the first of a month of repeated campaign appearances here before the crucial March 7 primaries, Bradley kept returning to his tight four-point loss Tuesday in New Hampshire. He blasted the Gore campaign Wednesday for refusing to acknowledge that Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, a Vietnam War Medal of Honor winner who lost his leg in combat, had been splashed with mud and called a “cripple” by a crowd of boisterous Gore backers at a rally Sunday in the New Hampshire town of Somersworth.

“Gore people demeaned him and called him a cripple,” a visibly angry Bradley said during a speech in a New York church. “They threw mud and I think the vice president ought to take responsibility for his campaign. He ought to take responsibility for those actions and he ought to apologize.”

Kerrey Describes Confrontation

Gore was mute about the Kerrey incident, but campaign spokesman Chris Lehane insisted “we’re not aware of anyone using those words to describe Sen. Kerrey. He’s a great war hero and a great American. The Gore campaign would never condone that type of name-calling.”

Kerrey, who described the confrontation with rowdy Gore supporters after he and fellow Bradley backer Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota went to the outskirts of a Gore rally, said Wednesday that “this is part of politics and the vice president certainly does not owe me an apology.”

But Bradley’s linkage between the Kerrey incident and Gore’s repeated attacks on the former New Jersey senator’s proposals on health care and other issues brought a sharp response from the vice president’s camp. “If Sen. Bradley is so concerned with mud-slinging,” Lehane said, “why has he personally engaged in mud-slinging the past two days?”

Lehane was referring to Bradley’s intensifying attacks on Gore for campaign finance lapses during the 1996 presidential race. A number of Gore allies and Democratic Party leaders have expressed anxiety about Bradley’s willingness to fault Gore for failing to take responsibility for abuses that included raising funds at a Buddhist temple in Hacienda Heights in April 1996.

Dubbing the previous contests in Iowa and New Hampshire “the warm-ups,” Bradley showed no signs of relenting.

“I want to make sure that all of you know what yesterday was about,” Bradley told about 350 supporters at Trinity College on Wednesday morning. Bouncing a small basketball on the lectern, he said: “Yesterday was sending a message that the ball is bouncing on, the ball is bouncing on, the ball is bouncing on.”

‘We Came Very Close’

Bradley said his 4-percentage-point loss to Gore in New Hampshire “fooled the polls and the pundits and the press who all thought that this was going to be a big margin. And we came very close.”

With $8.3 million on hand, said campaign manager Gina Glantz, Bradley aims to be competitive with Gore, especially in New York and California, where she said Bradley’s agenda of affordable health care, race relations and campaign finance reform will resonate with voters. After the New York rally, Bradley flew to San Francisco for a campaign stop today.

A day after the Bradley campaign offered to debate with Gore once a week, Tony Coelho, Gore’s campaign chairman, said it falls short of Gore’s repeated proposal that the two candidates debate twice a week and abandon their “30-second sound bite” advertising.

“We basically feel his position is sort of halfway. He wants the debate but he wants to continue the ads,” Coelho said.

Gore arrived in California on Wednesday night, where he was met at Burbank airport by a crowd of about 500 that included talk show host Jay Leno, Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden, labor supporters and a handful of protesters. Gore went on to a town hall forum at Los Angeles City College on Wednesday night. Today, he was scheduled to make a morning stop in Venice, an evening appearance in Washington state and a late-night return to Washington.

Earlier in the day, with no more than about four hours’ sleep, Gore also went to New York. But after a round of interviews on morning television shows in New York, Gore suddenly detoured to Washington, ready to cast the tie-breaking vote on an amendment that would have required those convicted of violating laws protecting abortion clinics to pay fines even if they are bankrupt.

While Bradley aides accused him of using the vote as a “political football,” a charge reminiscent of their attacks in recent days that the vice president was only an expedient convert to the abortion rights movement, Gore aides insisted it was a sign of his deep support for the issue.

Back on the trail late in the day, Gore flew on to speak to 1,000 cheering students at Ohio State University, where he urged the youths to “help me in the election in November.” Adding, almost as in retrospect, he said: “Help me, first of all, in the election March 7.”

The Ohio primary is on March 7, the same day as voting or caucuses in New York, California and 13 other states.

Times staff writer Steve Braun in Washington contributed to this story.