Profile: Bill Bradley

— -- Bill Bradley pledged to usher in a “different kind of politics” with his high-minded presidential bid, but in the end, the former New Jersey senator was thrashed by Al Gore, and failed to win a single state in his primary contest.

A former pro basketball player and veteran legislator, Bradley was urged by supporters to seek the Democratic nomination in 1988 and 1992, and briefly pondered a run for the White House as an independent in 1996. With no other candidates emerging to challenge a sitting vice president for the party’s nod in this year’s election cycle, Bradley decided his time had come.

Tonight a different kind of time will come for Bradley, as he will ask for party unity at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, while saluting the colors of his once-rival’s forthcoming presidential campaign.

‘It Can Happen’

At the outset, many political experts believed Bradley had a much better chance of wresting the Democratic nomination from Gore than Arizona Sen. John McCain had of defeating his party’s favorite for the nomination, Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

Many experts speculated that Democrats, fearing a contest between a charismatic Bush and a less-than-lively Gore, would begin to turn to Bradley as the more “electable” of the two candidates. Retiring New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan endorsed Bradley, saying that Gore “cannot win in November.”

Early in the campaign season, the senator’s hopes for victory ran high as he began to out-raise Gore in campaign contributions — something his advisers claimed was indicative of the senator’s strong grass-roots support.

Bradley even appeared poised for victory in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary, as he maintained a slight lead over the vice president in a number of statewide polls in the run-up to the critical contest. The campaign’s newly christened slogan, “It Can Happen,” was more accurate, it appeared, than the Gore camp wanted to admit.

Unlike McCain, his Republican counterpart, however, Bradley opted to compete in the Iowa caucuses, even though his chances for victory were similarly slim. Squandering his early lead in the Granite State, Bradley suffered disheartening defeats in both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. When he withdrew from the presidential race in March, two days after being swept by Gore on Super Tuesday, Bradley had scant delegates and not a single primary victory to show for his efforts.

Outsider Appeal

Despite nearly two decades of experience on Capitol Hill, Bradley ran ostensibly as an outsider, campaigning as much against the Washington political establishment as against his front-running opponent. He pledged to wash away the scandals and alleged corruption of the Clinton-Gore administration like a “clear mountain stream.”

One of his most memorable campaign events was a joint appearance with McCain in Claremont, N.H., where the two insurgents sought to broaden their appeal to independent-minded voters by promising to swear-off so-called soft money contributions should they emerge as the nominees of their respective parties.

Bradley had long advocated campaign finance reform, but it was the core Democratic issue of health-care that was at the heart of his long-shot run for the White House.

He proposed a sweeping, $60 billion a year plan to fundamentally restructure the nation’s health-care system and move the country a step closer to “universal” health care. His proposal would have provided health insurance coverage to an estimated 15 million new Americans and guaranteed coverage for all children.

Bradley also hoped to make inroads into minority communities. His call for racial healing was a fundamental part of his agenda. He garnered endorsements from prominent blacks such as basketball superstar Michael Jordan and film director Spike Lee. But his campaign failed to catch fire with the black community, in part because of its strong support for the Clinton administration.

Throwing Elbows

Bradley challenged Gore’s stands across a host of issues, accusing the vice president of only wanting to “tinker around the edges” and arguing for a more ambitious agenda. Gore, in turn, assailed Bradley’s proposals as reckless and unnecessarily expensive, often calling the senator “a good man with a bad plan.” As the Gore campaign picked apart the details of Bradley’s proposals, the Bradley campaign was criticized for failing to refute the attacks.

Even when his rival’s assaults seemed to turn personal, Bradley largely refused to return fire, clinging to what he called “a kind of politics based on belief and conviction, not a thousand promises and a thousand attacks.”

And the “thousand attacks” from the Gore campaign seemed to be never-ending and often unfair. Even though Bradley served for 18 years as a senator from the Garden State, for example, the vice president labeled him a quitter.

Based on Bradley’s refusal to run for a fourth term in 1996 — two years after Republicans, led by Georgia Rep. Newt Gingrich, reclaimed the majority in both houses of Congress — Gore accused Bradley of abandoning the Democratic Party when it needed him most, and portrayed himself as someone who, in contrast, would “stay and fight.”

Only on the eve of the New Hampshire primary did Bradley begin to fight back in earnest — or as he put it, throw a few “elbows.” In an effort to reinvigorate his flagging campaign, he lashed out at the vice president, accusing him of lying about his record and asking rhetorically, “If you can’t tell the truth in the campaign, how can people trust you as president?”

A visibly angry Bradley went after Gore on a number of fronts, charging that his opponent had a “conservative” record in the Senate on such defining issues such as abortion rights and gun-control and adding that the vice president’s attempts to “distort” his record made his “blood boil.”

Many blamed Bradley’s lack of success in the primaries on his failure to respond sooner to Gore’s attacks. Others say the excitement of the Republican race, with its spirited contest between Bush and McCain, robbed Bradley of the political oxygen he needed to close the gap with a sitting vice president.

Bradley was also dogged on the campaign trail by persistent questions about his health, after it was revealed that the former athlete had a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. He suffered a number of irregular heartbeat episodes during the campaign.

Out of the Game

When Bradley ended his presidential effort in mid-March, his remarks betrayed some lingering bitterness from the bruising primary battle.

“I hope that he’ll run a better campaign in the general election,” he said of Gore.

And, while he pledged to support the vice president’s candidacy, he pointedly refused to use the word “endorse,” even when prompted by reporters.

After four months out of the spotlight, however, Bradley returned to the political stage to appear with Gore at a joint campaign event in Green Bay, Wis., where he offered his former rival a full-throated endorsement.

“I want to make it clear that I endorse Al Gore for president of the United States,” Bradley said in front of a banner that read “United for Gore.”

“Our party is strongest when we’re unified,” he added, “when we speak with one voice.”

Gore in turn called Bradley a “good Democrat” — a stark contrast from his accusations of disloyalty during the primaries — and credited him with bringing issues such as campaign finance reform and racial healing to the fore of the American political debate.

“There is no more passionate voice for justice and equality in all of America than Senator Bill Bradley,” Gore said. “I am honored to have his support.”