Gore, Bradley in Bicoastal Mode

Gone are the bitter questions from family farmers on corporate agriculture. There are even fewer questions about Medicare and Social Security--matters of deep concern to the older populations of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Instead, people are asking about gangbangers, ethnic diversity, gay rights, immigration and global trade--issues that barely surfaced in the pastoral settings of Iowa or New Hampshire.

As the battle between Al Gore and Bill Bradley for the Democratic presidential nomination enters a new phase--with a pivotal number of convention delegates at stake--fresher issues are arising in a way that’s forcing both camps to recalibrate their tactics in the coming weeks.

It’s a reality that Gore’s campaign chairman, Tony Coelho, acknowledged late Wednesday after a town hall meeting at Los Angeles City College, where Gore was questioned about affirmative action, the World Trade Organization and other issues.

“Very California-ish,” noted the former California congressman.

After painstakingly wooing voters one at a time in Iowa and New Hampshire, the next contest for the Democratic candidates is March 7, when people in 15 states, including California, New York and many points in between, will cast their votes.

After winning the first two critical contests of the presidential race in New Hampshire and Iowa, aides say Gore now plans to enunciate a more centrist and broader-based appeal--instead of relying largely on the tried-and-true issues that resonate with core Democratic activists.

In the meantime, however, the cash-rich former New Jersey senator shows every sign of fighting on despite having suffered two straight losses. To Gore strategists, the prospect of a prolonged fight with Bradley looms as a double-edged sword.

While a weeks-long primary contest offers Gore the chance to show off as a winner and to further hone his campaign skills, a knock-down, drag-out battle could damage the vice president while draining his campaign coffers.

For now, Gore intends to stick with the message that worked well for him in Iowa and New Hampshire: that he would keep the prosperity going, expand medical insurance coverage and reform education.

Yet with the move to a national stage, according to Coelho and other Gore strategists, the vice president’s emphasis may change.

“In New Hampshire and Iowa, he talked about the environment--but he didn’t stress it. When he goes to L.A., he’ll stress the environment because it’s a big issue. In New York, it’s education and health care,” Coelho said.

Also in California on Thursday, Bradley similarly sought to broaden his message, unleashing a rare attack on Bush.

Bradley lashed out at the Texas governor for having spoken at South Carolina’s ultraconservative Bob Jones University, which denied nonwhite students entrance for many years.

Hoping to generate momentum after losses in Iowa and New Hampshire, Bradley swept into San Francisco on Thursday afternoon as an enthusiastic crowd of about 1,700 braved a pelting rain to see him.

Later, surrounded by local and state leaders, Bradley told 700 people crammed into the ballroom of a Ferry Plaza restaurant that he needs their help to make his vision of “a new politics” a reality. An additional 300 people listened to his speech from an overflow room in the restaurant, while hundreds more huddled outside in rain as the speech was broadcast from speakers.

Bradley reiterated his commitment to universal health care, campaign finance reform and promoting race relations.

Also Thursday, Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, a strong supporter of Bradley, asked the candidate to stop demanding an apology from Gore on his behalf. Bradley had alleged in a speech Wednesday that Gore supporters splattered Kerrey with mud and called him a cripple. Kerrey, a Vietnam War hero who lost a leg in combat, said in a statement Thursday: “Vice President Gore was not responsible for this incident, would never condone it and does not need to extend me an apology.”

The Republican race may be muddied after Arizona Sen. John McCain’s stunning 18-point victory over Bush in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday. But Gore strategists still view the Texas governor--at least for now--as the vice president’s most likely White House rival this fall.

Coelho and others noted that recent national polls show Gore still trails Bush, although he is rapidly closing the gap. They said they are not surprised their man is behind Bush--a state of affairs they believe reflects Bush’s position as chief executive of a large state and Gore’s as a presidential understudy.

But such a problem can be easily surmounted by beating Bradley in a series of upcoming primaries--such as in California, New York and Ohio on March 7, according to Coelho.

“Then the American people perceive him [Gore] as a winner,” he said.

One difficulty in that scenario, of course, is that such a result is more than four weeks away. In the meantime, Gore is going about campaigning the only way he knows how: all out.

On Wednesday, for instance, the vice president--after only a few hours’ sleep--visited New York, Ohio and California.

By the time Gore convened the town hall meeting at Los Angeles City College--nearly 20 hours after he had awakened in Manhattan--exhaustion was etched in his every movement.

Still, he denounced a far-right politician and Nazi admirer who may soon join Austria’s governing coalition. Closer to home, Gore expressed his approval of a recent Vermont Supreme Court ruling that ordered the state to offer gay couples the “benefits and protections that flow from marriage.”

The vice president also criticized as “hurtful” and “mean-spirited” Proposition 22 here in California, which would hold as valid only marriage between a man and a woman.

On Thursday, Gore also returned to a more familiar battleground, using as backdrop one of Hollywood’s premier visual-effects studios to bash Bradley for what he said was the former senator’s failure to propose a comprehensive education reform package. (Bradley has said that education reform is incorporated into a variety of his proposals, from welfare reform to health care reform.)

At the Venice company, Digital Domain, which won an Academy Award for its work on the movie “Titanic,” Gore said the continued economic growth in California depends on a work force that must be better educated.

Times staff writer Matea Gold contributed to this story.