ASHINGTON - Al Gore and Bill Bradley took their presidential campaigns yesterday to the Democratic National Committee, and offered them more a choice of personalities than a clash of ideas.
Bradley, who spoke first at the fall meeting of the committee, was greeted with prolonged chants of ''Brad-Lee, Brad-Lee'' when he stepped to the podium. Gore took the more unconventional route, striding briskly from the rear of the hotel ballroom, shaking hands and kissing familiar faces, as ''Love Train,'' the 1973 pop hit by the O'Jays, blared from the speakers.
While neither candidate appeared to have switched people's votes yesterday, the joint appearance of the two men pointed out that a genuine, although still civil, contest is shaping up for the Democratic presidential nomination.
''What better way to energize voters, from my perspective, than a contest that brings two people together for a spirited debate of ideas, a real contest with real choices decided by voters in caucuses and primaries across this nation?'' Bradley said.
While Bradley used the DNC meeting to answer questions about why he would challenge Gore for the nomination, Gore tried to leave the impression that he had stuck it out to fight the tough battles against Republicans. This was an implied contrast to Bradley, who quit the Senate in 1997, declaring that politics were ''broken.''
Gore told the Democrats that neither he nor they had ''walked way from a challenge,'' but that they had stayed and fought. ''I look at people here and every one of you, back home, you're fighting in the trenches, and you're working all the time to make it the way it's supposed to be because you care,'' Gore said.
While known for his stiffness, Gore wandered about the stage, except on the occasions when he walked back to the podium to refer to notes. Bradley stayed at the podium.
Although Bradley got a wildly enthusiastic reception from guests, some of whom had been urged to attend through e-mail, including students from American and George Washington universities, his reception was more mixed among the 428 DNC members, who will make up 20 percent of delegates to next year's Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.
The Gore campaign also worked to draw its supporters, and succeeded in a last-minute effort to give Gore the last word at the meeting. Gore had been scheduled to speak before Bradley, an arrangement that apparently was acceptable until Friday, when it became clear that President Clinton would not speak at his scheduled Saturday time.
The president instead spoke at the meeting on Friday because he was undergoing a physical exam yesterday.
''They said it was logistical, but it's just typical politics,'' said a Bradley aide, who added that the campaign was not extremely upset about the schedule change.
In speeches to the DNC members and guests, both candidates aired views on improving race relations, tightening gun-control laws, and expanding prosperity.
While Bradley also focused on campaign finance reform and child poverty, Gore spoke more about education and tossed bouquets to various Democratic interest groups from women to gays to minorities, promising that if elected he would create laws more hospitable to them. Several DNC members waved Gore signs as he spoke.
Each candidate got in digs at the other. ''I think it's about time somebody stood up to the NRA,'' said Bradley, referring to the National Rifle Association and implying the Clinton-Gore administration had not. At another point, Bradley said, ''What we need is a little plain speaking about where we are in the world today.''
Gore, for his part, took a swipe at Bradley's support for school vouchers on an experimental basis, and for a Senate vote that would have increased the age limit for Social Security recipients. ''I want you to know I have never been for vouchers,'' Gore said.
And because Bradley had not mentioned the need to shore up Social Security and Medicare, Gore said he favored doing so because that hadn't ''been mentioned here yet today.'' He pledged to fight against any proposal to privatize Social Security or raise the retirement age.
Bradley did give the Clinton-Gore administration credit for the booming economy and won applause when he said, ''I think that President Clinton has done a remarkable job on the issue of race in this country.''
But the loudest applause came when he mentioned the nation's prosperity and said, ''There is no reason we can't dramatically reduce the number of children living in poverty.'' And the audience roared when he poked fun at himself, telling the story of four Iowa women who didn't know who he was.
''I walked up to them and I said, `Hi, I'm Bill Bradley.'
''And they said, `Who?'
''Bill Bradley, I'm running for president.''
''And they said, `President of what?'''
''Al Gore and Bill Bradley are two great public servants,'' said Mayor Edward G. Rendell of Philadelphia, who was elected yesterday by the DNC board as general chairman, replacing Colorado Governor Roy Romer. Rendell said the party would ''be fortunate to have either one of them'' as president.
Edna O'Neill, a DNC member from Rhode Island, said she is ''leaning towards Gore,'' but is going to the Democratic convention as an uncommitted delegate. ''They are running against each other because they are really the cream of the crop,'' she said, ''both of them.''
