Bradley’s Endorsement of Gore Is Official

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Shaking off the animosity that colored their fight for the Democratic nomination, a relaxed Bill Bradley joined his hand with Al Gore’s Thursday and raised it in the air, declaring that his former rival would be the best leader for the country.

Bradley offered his first formal endorsement of the vice president since he dropped out of the presidential contest in March after a bitter primary. At the time, Bradley expressed grudging support for Gore’s campaign to win the White House. But he carefully avoided using the term “endorse.”

On Thursday, both men hoped to demonstrate that they have healed their wounds and that the Democratic Party is unified as it heads into the fall election.

“The Democratic Party is a place of many different voices,” said a tanned Bradley, looking at ease as he spoke to a large crowd waving a sea of blue and yellow Gore signs. “Our party is strongest when we’re unified, when we speak with one voice, when we work to guarantee a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president.”

Bradley credited the current administration for the country’s economic strength, and he praised Gore’s understanding of technology. However, Bradley’s words were more forceful about the Democratic Party than about Gore himself.

An energized Gore told reporters after the event that it “is one of the most important days in the election. . . . [Bradley] has a big following and an even larger number that respect his judgment.”

The vice president quoted his former opponent extensively throughout his speech, citing his commitment to campaign finance reform, eradicating child poverty and promoting racial justice.

“As Sen. Bradley said . . . ‘I believe we can wisely pursue both prosperity and justice, both freedom and equality,’ ” Gore said. “That is Bill Bradley’s message; it is my vision because that is the cause of the Democratic Party.”

On a sweltering July day bursting with patriotic touches, the two men stood together before a white Colonial-style building draped in red, white and blue bunting. At one point, they slapped hands in a high-five and clenched their fists together in the air.

The much-anticipated reconciliation at a lakeside amusement park had all the atmosphere of a summer carnival. The smell of barbecue drifted through the air; a Ferris wheel spun lazily nearby.

But the upbeat “unity event” couldn’t completely erase evidence of a tough-won campaign.

Bradley warned during the primaries that Gore would be a vulnerable candidate in November because of his role in the 1996 campaign fund-raising excesses, which included a controversial fund-raiser held at a Buddhist temple in Hacienda Heights, Calif. The controversy was illustrated at the event Thursday by protesters dressed as Buddhist monks shouting, “No more Gore!”

The bitterness between Bradley and Gore peaked during a New Hampshire debate when the former senator from New Jersey asked: “Why should we believe that you will tell the truth as president if you don’t tell the truth as a candidate?”

Analysts predicted that those words would haunt Gore in the general election, and, in fact, Republicans have plastered them on a billboard outside Gore’s Nashville headquarters.

Many suspected it would be difficult for Bradley to stand side-by-side with the man whose tactics in the primaries he so clearly disdained.

In the weeks leading up to the joint appearance, Bradley “was getting over having lost,” said Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), who campaigned with him throughout the primaries. “It’s not easy to lose, but Bill Bradley has terrific values and he’s no man that gets bitter and holds grudges.”

Bradley, who has been vacationing and meeting with supporters in the last few months, is not planning to make any more campaign appearances before next month’s Democratic National Convention, where he is slated to have a prominent speaking role. But in the fall, Bradley will campaign for Democratic candidates, his spokesman, Eric Hauser, said.

Meanwhile, Gore launched a new line of attack Thursday against Republican George W. Bush, saying that the $1.7-billion tax cut the governor approved in Texas last year left the state with a gaping budget shortfall that could hurt Medicaid coverage for children and other programs.

The vice president warned that Bush’s proposal to give Americans a tax cut with part of the budget surplus could similarly impact the country.

“The very last thing this country needs is an era of Bush economics that brings us back to deficits, high interest rates, high unemployment, recession and the bad times of the 1980s,” Gore said.

The Bush campaign fired back, saying Gore was misrepresenting the budget situation because the $1-billion surplus in the Texas treasury will cover the extra costs of Medicaid and other unexpected expenditures. They also charged that the recent federal budgets have produced similar shortfalls.

Bush, traveling in Pittsburgh on Thursday, told reporters that Gore has “no credibility on an issue like this.”

Gore also got another boost Thursday from President Clinton, who appeared at the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People convention in Baltimore, capping a week of speakers that included Bush, Gore and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“You’ve had an amazing conference,” the president told the adoring crowd. “I’m really glad Gov. Bush came. I am. But I thought the other fellow gave a better speech.”