Only, he needed someone to notice.

In the final weekend of his go-for-broke bid for Washington, Bradley found that a year traversing the campaign trail, millions of dollars in advertising and an almost-win in New Hampshire (he lost by 4 percent) came down to this:

Hardly any national reporters bothered with his Friday rally. So, on his cell phone, he dialed one of the two dozen journalists traveling with his Democratic presidential rival, Vice President Al Gore. "Just wanted to say hi. Haven't seen you in a while," Bradley said.

There's also the frustration of idling far behind in polls and name ID.

A new CNN/Time poll released Saturday pushed Gore even further ahead in California, with 56 percent to Bradley's 11 percent.

"Bradley? I know nothing about him. Not one thing. I don't even know what he looks like," said Cleveland construction worker Rick Kekick.

In New York, where Bradley is considered best known from his years on the Knicks basketball team, the latest poll found that about half of Democrats didn't know enough about Bradley to say whether they view him favorably or unfavorably.

And then there's Republican John McCain.

McCain, the come-from-behind fascination who threatens to topple George W. Bush, is honing in on Bradley's support among independents.

"He's been hurt by circumstance," said Spokane lawyer John Etter, a Bradley supporter. "McCain's emergence has been unhelpful to Bradley. It's taken him off the front pages."

Bradley dismissed those who suggest he is wasting time in the political wilderness of Washington. The Tuesday primary there is essentially a beauty pageant because it elects no delegates.

"We can only help ourselves," Bradley told The Associated Press in that Friday phone call. "We can't do anything but gain since everybody expects us to lose."

Everybody, including Clara Staunton, who happened upon Bradley at Seattle's Discovery Park. She said she will vote for Bradley because "he makes a lot of sense on the issues," but she had little faith in his chances.

"He may win here, but things don't look good overall," Staunton said.

Bradley plunged forward Saturday, rallying about 400 Spokane supporters: "This will be the launching pad and you can be the rockets that lift this campaign and make it take off."

He enlisted Marcy Bloom, head of Aradia Women's Health Center, the oldest women's clinic in the Northwest, in a radio ad hammering at Gore's old anti-abortion record. "We need a president with an unwavering and consistent commitment to a woman's right to choose a safe, legal abortion," Bloom says.

Intent on denying Bradley a symbolic Washington win, Gore has matched Bradley's investment in TV advertising there, aides confirmed, and added five stops in the Seattle area this weekend, including Saturday night's NAACP dinner, where Bradley was also speaking.

One new Gore ad surprisingly features his climb of Mount Rainier last summer with his son, Albert III -- an outing Gore long insisted was private and off-limits for public discussion.

"We'll fight like hell," said Gore spokesman Todd Webster.

Gore cruised through California giddily piling up official support. "He's for you! And he's for me!" he trilled in sing-song Friday after Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown offered his endorsement.

At a San Jose coffee shop Saturday, Gore, a former journalist, playfully grabbed a reporter's notebook and, without a word, scribbled out his version of the day's story: "In a hastily arranged and extremely significant endorsement, Ron Gonzales, the first Hispanic mayor of a large city in modern California history, cast his lot with Vice President Al Gore today."

In San Francisco, he promised "to bring full Internet access to every home."

Twice in Washington and once earlier, in South Carolina, Gore partisans pelted Bradley with missives denouncing his scrutiny of Gore's record on abortion, gun control and campaign finance reform as destructive to the party.

"As you continue to campaign here, please respect the voters of Washington and the Democratic Party. Save your attacks for Republicans," Washington Democratic chairman Paul Berendt wrote Bradley.

Earlier this month, Bradley was at a South Carolina airport when he was handed a similar letter from state chairman Dick Harpootlian, saying it was time for Bradley to drop out and support Gore.

"This is predictable. This is how the establishment operates," Bradley told AP. "Those are his supporters. They don't want to face the record."

His campaign has accused Gore, who rarely entertains questions from his traveling press corps, of trying to hide and win the nomination on the basis of its inevitability.

To wit, Bradley explained his phone call to the Gore press bus: "I wanted to give you the chance to speak to a presidential candidate."