EW YORK - Struggling Democratic candidate Bill Bradley aired his first attack ad against rival Al Gore yesterday, accusing Gore of being a closet conservative.
Bradley, bound for Washington state yesterday to try to surprise Gore in the nonbinding primary there next Tuesday, began airing a 30-second spot on Washington radio stations that highlights Gore's conservative votes in Congress.
Gore, making a targeted appeal to senior citizens in Florida, didn't mention Bradley as he detailed how he would cover precription drugs for Medicare patients. But his campaign rushed a 60-second response ad on the air attacking Bradley for attacking Gore.
The ad says Gore is prochoice on abortion, in favor of gun control, and a proponent of universal access to health care.
''Bill Bradley. Attack ads, negative campaigning? Bill Bradley sounds more like a Republican every day,'' the Gore spot says.
Citing Gore's opposition in Congress to stricter gun laws, tougher tobacco regulations, and federal funding for abortions, Bradley is trying to portray the vice president as a rudderless opportunist.
''When it comes right down to it, what does Al Gore really stand for?'' an announcer asks in the radio ad.
The commerical also directs listeners to an anti-Gore Web site.
Bradley, who spoke yesterday at Columbia University in New York, urgently needs to cut Gore's double-digit lead in Washington if he is to gain any momentum before the decisive round of primaries on March 7. Bradley plans to campaign in Washington until Tuesday's voting and then will debate Gore in Los Angeles next Wednesday.
Bradley's campaign suffered another serious blow Tuesday when Arizona Senator John McCain won the Republican primaries in Michigan and Arizona. Bradley had hoped Texas Governor George W. Bush would knock McCain out of the race, leaving Bradley to bill himself as the only authentic reformer in the field.
The Gore campaign, luxuriating in its healthy lead in the polls in the South and in the critical primary states of New York and California, brushed off the Bradley ad.
But the Gore camp was clearly pleased by Bradley's move. The depiction of Gore as a conservative could help the vice president pull in moderate voters in the general election. The Gore campaign is also happy to see Bradley spend money, hoping that by the time the March 7 round of 16 state primaries and caucuses are over, Bradley will have substantially depleted his campaign chest.
''It's as baffling as it is bewildering. Perplexing as it is puzzling,'' said Gore spokesman Chris Lehane.
Gore, confident in his lead, unveiled what he described as a ''third pillar'' in health care assistance for the elderly, a plan to cover prescription drugs under Medicare.
''It is time to provide help to seniors for the purchase of prescription drugs,'' Gore said while announcing his ''Medicoverage'' plan that he said would complement Medicare and Medicaid. The program would cost $35 billion over 10 years and would help seniors with both basic and catastrophic prescription drug coverage.
Gore got a predictably warm welcome from the 1,500 residents of Century Village, a retirement community that voted, its leaders say, almost universally for the Clinton-Gore ticket in 1992 and 1996. The senior vote is a crucial constituency in Florida, and visits to ''condo heaven'' are almost compulsory for candidates. Some of the residents don't even vote in Florida, but rather in their home states of New York and Massachusetts - two states holding primaries March 7.
Gore's plan, presented as a new initiative, is not substantially different from what the Clinton administration announced in its budget proposal this month. Clinton had set aside $35 billion for catastrophic care under Medicare, but he had not specified how it would be used. Further, the plan is similar to what Senator Edward M. Kennedy has been proposing since 1971.
A Bradley spokesman, Eric Hauser, accused Gore of ''scaring seniors'' on Medicare. ''It's an old record,'' Hauser said. ''It's got a rut in it, he's played it so often.
Bradley's health care plan includes drug coverage for seniors, but the deductibles and caps would be different.
Bradley also proposed a $200 million a year expansion of direct federal aid for workers who lose their jobs because of new trade agreements, and a $100 million pilot program to help low-income families buy computer equipment.
Modeled after food stamps, Bradley's plan would provide $400 ''info-stamps'' for computer resources to families living below the federal poverty level.
In Bradley's last East Coast event for at least a week, he tweaked Gore over economic policy. Chiding Gore for saying he would continue trying to reduce the national debt even in a recession, Bradley said, ''This is the kind of economic management that got us into the Great Depression.''
