EATTLE - In a race that is largely a battle for respect, Al Gore made an aggressive plea for votes in Washington state yesterday, determined to deprive his struggling rival, Bill Bradley, of even the dignity of a single win in a state that will award no delegates tomorrow.
It is a contest for exactly zero delegates, but Vice President Gore and former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley are waging a fierce campaign against each other here that is uncivil at best, brutally negative at worst.
For Bradley, a win in Washington state tomorrow night would give him bragging rights, if not actual delegates to the Democratic National Convention, and some momentum to take him into the March 7 primaries.
For Gore, the Washington race is about showing Bradley who's boss. While Gore aides shake their heads in bewilderment at Bradley's all-out campaign for Washington state, where tomorrow's primary is a mere beauty contest, they hope to keep Bradley from racking up what would be his first primary win.
Gore is on a six-day Western swing, spending much of his time in delegate-rich California, where the vice president enjoys an overwhelming lead in the polls over Bradley.
But even with the March 7 primaries looming, Gore took time to come up to Seattle to rattle Bradley's cage.
Bradley has been trying to portray Gore as a conservative Democrat, with a spotty record on issues such as gun control, abortion rights, and the environment. The message is potentially powerful among Washington's liberal, environmentalist Democratic voters.
A campaign flier mailed to voters by the Bradley campaign features a photo of antiabortion protesters and a picture of Gore, and says Gore has not always been pro-choice on abortion.
''How can we believe Al Gore if he doesn't know what he believes in?'' the flier says.
But Gore insisted it is Bradley who has the conservative past, noting that the former senator voted for Reagan budget cuts in the 1980s.
''You can't vote for Reagan's spending cuts and then campaign like Robert Kennedy,'' Gore told a gymnasium full of supporters here yesterday.
In an attack against an insurance company, Gore railed against the Aetna insurance provider for cutting off coverage for a 6-month-old Everett boy who needs round-the-clock care because he cannot swallow. The Malone family's caseworker suggested that the couple give the boy, Ian, up for adoption, Gore said, so the child would be eligible for Medicaid.
''Let me say to this insurance company: Don't do this,'' Gore bellowed. If the Republican Congress would pass the patients' bill of rights, Ian would be covered, Gore told the crowd.
In an event-packed day and a half in Washington state over the weekend, Gore wooed blacks, unionists, and abortion rights activists, relying heavily on the Democratic Party establishment.
Bradley backed out of a chili dinner held Saturday by the state Democratic committee, complaining, accurately, that the committee brass overwhelmingly back Gore.
''I think there is just a strong sense of party loyalty, name identity, and a comfort zone that is a fantastic challenge to overcome,'' said a crestfallen Michael Raekes, a Bradley supporter who arrived at the chili-fest to see that his candidate was not there and that the walls were plastered with Gore signs.
''It's been very clear from the very beginning that the state party was going to ignore its commitment to neutrality,'' added Bradley's Washington spokesman, Mo Elleithee, as he wandered among a sea of blue and white Gore posters.
Both Gore and Bradley gave addresses on race Saturday night at a dinner sponsored by the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
But while Bradley spoke more personally about race, and made stronger comments about the not-guilty verdict in the New York police shooting of Amadou Diallo, an African man, it was Gore who got the warmer reception.
''A wallet in the hands of a white American looks like a wallet, but a wallet in the hands of a black American looks like a gun,'' Bradley said, referring to the police officers' contention that they thought Diallo was holding a gun instead of his billfold. ''I am truly stunned'' by the verdict, he added, his words mixing with the clink of silverware.
Gore did not state an opinion on the verdict, noting only that the ''the entire nation has been shocked and saddened by the killing of an innocent, unarmed man.'' But Gore's comment that the US Department of Justice is examining the case to see if federal action was warranted got a strong round of applause from the group.
When the dinner was finished, NAACP Freedom Fund chairman Benjamin E. Johnson put his arm around Gore, standing on the dais, and noted that since the group does not make endorsements, the members should just make up their own minds.
''Me! Me!'' Gore pantomimed, pointing his finger at his chest, again drawing approving laughter and applause from the group.
