EW YORK - No sooner did the bitter race for the Democratic presidential nomination shift from New Hampshire to New York yesterday than former senator Bill Bradley unleashed a new assault on Vice President Al Gore's integrity and their sparring over Gore's abortion record started anew.
Gore, after shaking hands with commuters at Grand Central Station in the morning, suddenly ditched his campaign schedule and boarded the next US Airways shuttle to Washington so he could cast the tie-breaking vote, if necessary, on an abortion rights amendment.
Air Force Two was not available because the flight crew had not gotten enough rest after an early morning flight from New Hampshire. Gore took a front-row seat on the 9 a.m. flight, with Secret Service agents seated behind him. Gore, who said he didn't know whether a sitting vice president in recent history had flown commercial, slept most of the flight.
The vice president said he received early-morning calls asking for his help from Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle and Democratic Senators Harry Reid of Nevada and Charles Schumer of New York.
''They formally requested that I return in the event it is a tie, and the only way I could get back that quickly was to get on the shuttle,'' Gore said. ''I said, `Let's go.'''
But Senate Republicans, intent on denying him the opportunity to further legitimize his stance on the abortion issue, had a last-minute change of heart. They voted with the Democrats for the amendment that would prohibit abortion clinic protesters from filing for bankruptcy to shield themselves from fines and civil judgments. Instead of a tie, the vote wasn't even close, 80-17.
Had Gore cast the tie-breaker, the vote would not have come at a more auspicious time for the vice president, who has been put on the defensive by Bradley on the issue. Gore, who now defends abortion rights, once opposed providing federal funds to poor women for the procedure and in 1984 supported an antiabortion amendment that defined a fetus as a person.
''We didn't manufacture a vote,'' Tony Coelho, Gore's campaign chairman, said yesterday. Asked about the political benefits to Gore of returning to Washington for the vote, Coelho said, ''It's a continuation of his commitment. This isn't anything new.''
Bradley, with a clear touch of sarcasm, said, ''The vice president supposedly cast a tie-breaking vote. I'd rather be in New York, quite frankly.''
Bradley's spokesman, Eric Hauser, went a step further. ''They clearly decided they wanted to be part of this issue in Washington,'' he said. ''It should not be used as a political football.''
Despite Gore's early morning drama, he managed to get back on schedule, taking Air Force Two to Columbus, Ohio, where he spoke at a rally at Ohio State University, promising, among other things, to fight for ''a woman's right to choose.'' Then he flew to Los Angeles.
While Gore was in Washington, Bradley kicked off his push toward the March 7 primaries in 15 states by citing an incident last Sunday in Somersworth, N.H., in which Gore supporters purportedly threw mud at Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska and called him a ''loser'' and a ''cripple.'' Kerrey, a Bradley supporter, lost a leg in the Vietnam War as a Navy Seal.
''I would simply ask Al Gore to take responsibility for his campaign and their actions as well as his own words,'' Bradley told supporters at a church across from Washington Square in Greenwich Village. ''When his campaign demeans a Medal of Honor winner like Bob Kerrey, there should be an apology from Al Gore.''
Gore's campaign denied Bradley's version of the incident. ''We're not aware of anyone using those words to describe Senator Kerrey,'' said Gore's spokesman, Chris Lehane. ''He's a great war hero and a great American. The Gore campaign would never condone that type of name-calling.''
Bradley told reporters in Greenwich Village that he would wait to demand an apology from Gore until he spoke to Kerrey and confirmed the details.
But Kerrey, without refuting Bradley's version, told reporters in Washington, ''This is part of politics, and the vice president certainly does not owe me an apology.''
The contretemps came as Bradley sought to capitalize on the momentum he gained last week with a five-day attack on Gore's ethics and honesty. After falling behind by double digits in some polls, Bradley finished four points back in New Hampshire, keeping alive his candidacy for next month's contests.
