Gore and Bradley Play Up 2 Issues Close to the Hearts of Party Faithful

Appealing to Democratic voters, Vice President Al Gore emphasized his environmental record here on the banks of the Hudson River while Bill Bradley campaigned on the West Coast about education policy.

Gore accepted the endorsement of the nonpartisan New York League of Conservation Voters and highlighted what may be one of his strongest assets: his reputation as an ardent environmentalist.

For the second straight day, Gore also appealed across party and ideological lines by attacking the GOP candidates, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, and inviting “all the pro-environment Republicans in this election to stand with me.”

“I want you to remember two numbers: zero and one,” Gore said. “There are two candidates on the Republican side. And one of them, in the last League of Conservation Voters ratings two years ago, came in with a rating of zero. Zero. The other is a governor under whose leadership his state has become No. 1 in pollution of air, pollution of the water and pollution of the land. Zero and one,” Gore said.

“That’s some choice,” he added sarcastically. “Let’s face it, for these candidates, clean air really is an act.”

The vice president acknowledged that Bradley has “a good environmental record” as well.

Bradley earned an 84% approval rating by the national league, compared with Gore’s 64%, based on their congressional votes. But Paul J. Elston, president of the New York league chapter, said Thursday in announcing the endorsement that Gore “stands head and shoulders above all of the candidates.”

Bradley was not so kind to Gore on Thursday.

Campaigning in Washington, where voters go to the polls Tuesday, the former senator from New Jersey sharply attacked Gore for failing to be a leader on schools when he was in Congress.

While Gore has been part of an education-friendly Clinton White House for seven years, the “old Al Gore,” a phrase springing more and more from Bradley’s lips, was far different, Bradley said. He only introduced four education bills in 16 years as a congressman and senator from Tennessee. Bradley said he introduced 37 in his 18 years in the U.S. Senate.

Bradley chose college-age crowds from Seattle Central Community College to the University of Washington to address as he outlined his ideas to fix American education.

He said all teachers must be qualified; currently, he said, 6 million students are being taught by what Bradley says amount to “warm bodies.” He said all schools must be held accountable for assuring that students actually learn. Further, he said, all students should have the ability to leave a poorly performing school for a better institution. He also proposes doubling Title I spending from $8 billion a year to $16 billion but requiring schools that get the new money to prove student success.

The campaign released two new television ads Thursday, including one that lasts two minutes and tells Bradley’s personal story, beginning with his childhood in Crystal City, Mo.

In Tacoma on Thursday evening, Bradley used the setting of the Al Davies Boys and Girls Club to discuss his gun control policies, including registering all 65 million handguns in existence in the United States, requiring trigger locks and banning gun shops from residential neighborhoods.

It was a mostly raucous, high-energy event that fell silent when the presidential candidate asked the children in the crowd of 250 whether they had witnessed a gun death. One girl spoke up, saying she saw someone get shot by a store.

Bradley turned back to the crowd, now hushed. “There was a finality about this,” Bradley said. “This was death. What created this?”

He blamed it on the easy availability of handguns. “It seems to me that we’ve reached a point in this country where we have to take some common-sense action on guns.”