By Jill Zuckman, Globe Staff, April 11, 1999
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- With several busloads of New Jersey college students to give him a boost, former Senator Bill Bradley stole the show yesterday at New Hampshire's annual Democratic convention, where he promised to restore the nation's trust in the presidency.
At the convention, opinion leaders, politicians, and political volunteers also heard Tipper Gore make an appeal for her husband, Vice President Al Gore, in the 2000 presidential campaign.
But it was a bigger splash for Bradley, who was making his first major appearance before party activists in the Granite State. He told tales of his days as a basketball player and offered ruminations on why he wants to become president. And he drew sustained applause when he said the nation should have "trust in the president as an individual, and we need to restore that."
Bradley also said America's leaders and the president need to trust the people to accept hard truths and uncertainty.
"People trust the president as individual, people trust the Congress and president to be honorable in the way they're elected and behave, and then the president trusts that people will be able to understand the complexities of their lives," he said.
On the Democratic side of the 2000 presidential race, Vice President Al Gore is well ahead of Bradley, with more money, better organization, and wide party support here and nationally. Bradley acknowledged this, but said he hoped the gap will close as voters get to know him. He also said he would have enough money to compete with the vice president.
"If people respond to what I believe, that will be enough," he said.
Speaking with reporters, Bradley said the polls show that Americans no longer trust President Clinton as an individual, though he said that distrust does not extend to Gore.
Bradley said he believes that a presidential candidate must know the country, know foreign policy, and be able to put a team together that can win. In 1988, when he first considered running for president, he said he decided he was not ready. In 1992, he said he decided he was ready to run for president, but an inner voice told him not to.
Now, he said, he is ready to run for president and eager for the challenge of New Hampshire-style campaigning.
"The essence is looking people in the eye in small rooms, letting them take your measure as a human being and leader," he said. "That's the kind of politics I love."
Bradley said he hoped to become the good steward of a good economy. But he said there is "no excuse" not to begin taking care of the one in five children who live in poverty and the 45 million Americans who are without health insurance. If elected, Bradley said, he hopes to promote tolerance and racial understanding, protect the world's natural resources, and reduce the role of money in politics.
"We've done the big things in the past, we can do the big things in the future," he said, a sharp contrast to the vice president's agenda of small goals, such as reducing traffic congestion.
Mrs. Gore also received a warm reception from the crowd as she recounted the vision of her husband, who was traveling in Wisconsin yesterday.
"As Democrats, we face a fundamental question of values," she said. "Will we use these good times to widen our circle of dignity and prosperity?"
Gore said her husband understands the need for revolutionary change in schools, citing smaller classrooms, more computers, better training, and pre-school for every child.
She also said that with three daughters, the vice presdient is sensitive to the fact that women on average earn 74 cents for every dollar a man earns. "He feels this inequity very deeply and wants to change it," she said. "He supports equal pay for equal work."
Gore said she watched her husband offer himself up for military service during Vietnam, and later for public service.
"He is the best vice president this nation has ever seen," she said. "I ask your support for his candidacy."
[an error occurred while processing this directive]