A bit warily, I think he is. Following him around Massachusetts and New Hampshire in early November, I noticed several encouraging things about the man and his operation. His basic speech is a litany with which few readers of this magazine would find fault. His issues come from his gut, not from his pollsters. Child poverty is not a cause that animates most suburban swing voters.
Gun control resonates with few New Hampshire independents.
He goes further than he needs to on gay rights and on race. Second, Bradley is taking the high road. As he speaks in New Hampshire town meetings, addresses rallies of his own canvassers, chats on streets of small towns, there is hardly a word about Al Gore. Indeed, when a fervent Bradley supporter suggested that Gore was something of a hypocrite on the environment, Bradley gallantly rose to the vice president's defense and almost chastised the questioner. Bradley speaks of his own vision for America, not of Gore's ample weaknesses.