ANCHESTER, N.H. - Vice President Al Gore's plan to reinvigorate his campaign for president by debating Bill Bradley was dealt a blow yesterday when Bradley's chairman brushed off the invitation and accused Gore of planning to run a negative campaign.
In a letter from Douglas C. Berman, Bradley's chairman, to Tony Coelho, Gore's chairman, Berman thanked Coelho ''for your sudden interest in joint appearances and debates.'' Berman said he was looking forward to the Oct. 27 town hall meeting here, sponsored by WMUR-TV, as well as forums to be held next year by the Des Moines Register, WMUR, and the Los Angeles Times.
Berman pointedly ignored Coehlo's request that they meet to schedule a series of additional debates between the two Democrats.
''Bill Bradley claims he's a different kind of politician, but apparently he's the kind who ducks debates, the forums that offer the voters the very best chance to hear what the candidates have to offer and to watch them go one on one,'' said Chris Lehane, Gore's spokesman.
Anita Dunn, Bradley's communications director, said the former New Jersey senator was not ducking debates at all.
''We accepted a number of invitations before they did,'' Dunn said.
Meanwhile, the blood-letting at the vice president's campaign headquarters continued yesterday, as his campaign manager, Craig Smith, stepped down and his chief pollster, Mark Penn, was let go. Also sent packing were Celinda Lake and Mark Mellman, two pollsters who had worked for Penn.
Gore is replacing Penn with Harrison Hickman, a well-known pollster who has specialized in abortion politics, working for the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. Penn will continue to work for the Democratic National Committee.
The vice president's decision this week to move his campaign headquarters from Washington to Nashville gave him the freedom to jettison expensive consultants and other staff. But amid the shakeup, others gained greater clout.
Among the latter is Michael J. Whouley, a political consultant at the Dewey Square Group in Boston. Whouley has emerged as one of the top four advisers in the Gore campaign, with chief responsibility for the race in Iowa and New Hampshire. And Elaine Kamarck, who teaches at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, will continue as chief policy adviser.
During the last month or two, the Bradley and Gore campaigns have sparred in New Hampshire over school vouchers, health care, and who has the better record of protecting a woman's right to an abortion.
In his letter yesterday, Berman said he was disturbed by reports that the Gore campaign is planning to launch a negative attack against Bradley.
''This appears to be inconsistent with the vice president's own words in announcing the new direction of the campaign, in which he said, `I'm going to present my own vision for what the nation needs to do in the future,''' Berman wrote. ''The vice president also noted on the Today Show that `He [Bradley] and I served in the Senate together. I don't have anything bad to say about him.'''
Berman said he hoped Coelho would resolve the ''inconsistencies.''
Gore officials, however, did not rule out comparing records.
At a time of national prosperity and a declining poverty rate, the Gore campaign is happy to note differences on economic policy, Lehane said.
''We'd love to have a comparison to our approach, which is clearly working, with another approach, keeping in mind that some voted for Reaganomics and some voted against it,'' he said.
Bradley voted for President Reagan's budget, which cut numerous social programs, when he served in the Senate, and Gore voted against it, while serving in the House. During a recent interview, Bradley pointed out that he also voted against Reagan's tax cut package. He said that if more members of Congress had voted the way he did - for budget cuts and against tax cuts - the nation's deficit would not have mushroomed out of control during the 1980s.
Lehane also pointed to the minimum wage and the earned income tax credit as issues that should be debated.
''Some stayed and fought to preserve and protect the minimum wage and the earned income tax credit, and some didn't,'' he said, referring to two issues that came up after Democrats lost their majority in the Senate and Bradley retired.
''We would hope these forums would provide an opportunity for a compare and a contrast of their positions on the issues,'' Lehane said. ''It's in the best traditions of our democracy.''
