ACON, Ga. - Blurring the line between his presidential campaign and his vice presidential duties, Al Gore yesterday barnstormed through the South, picking up political support while also taking a detour on a taxpayer-sponsored trip to survey damage from the deadliest tornadoes to hit Georgia in 50 years.
Along the way, Gore joined Democratic rival Bill Bradley in opposing President Clinton's nomination of associate law professor Bradley A. Smith to the Federal Election Commission, at the behest of Republican senators.
Smith, who teaches at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, opposes the law that the FEC enforces. ''Campaign finance reform has turned out to be bad policy,'' he has written. ''The most sensible reform is a simple one: repeal of the Federal Elections Campaign Act.''
Gore said, ''I neither support this nomination nor agree with the views of Professor Bradley Smith. The last thing we need is an FEC commissioner who publicly questions not only the constitutionality of proposed reforms, but also the constitutionality of current limitations.''
Responding to Gore's statement, Bradley said: ''I said it last week, and he said it this week. That's par for the course. I take a position and a week later he takes the same position. I'm obviously sad the administration made the appointment.''
Bradley asked rhetorically whether Gore would work actively to block Smith's appointment. ''I would,'' Bradley said.
With Gore's campaign becoming increasingly confident of winning the Democratic nomination, the Smith statement was another sign that Gore is setting his sights on the general election. Republican candidate John McCain has made campaign finance reform the centerpiece of his run for the presidency while McCain's rival, Texas Governor George W. Bush, unfurled his own ideas Tuesday for cleaning up campaign financing.
Moreover, Gore spent part of the day campaigning in North Carolina, a state that does not even hold a primary vote until May 2, well after the party's nominee is expected to have been decided.
At a high school in Raleigh, Gore picked up endorsements from Governor Jim Hunt and Senator John Edwards, the two top Democratic office-holders. Hunt had endorsed Gore in his 1988 presidential bid, but Gore campaign officials nonetheless portrayed the endorsement as significant because of the governor's ties to the former New Jersey senator. A top Bradley campaign aide, Ed Turlington, is Hunt's former executive assistant.
Also, a day after winning the endorsement of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, Gore added Empire Pride, the nation's largest gay rights group, to his list.
''The train might not quite be leaving the station yet, but a lot of people are getting on board in anticipation that it will be soon,'' said Chris Lehane, Gore's press secretary, referring to the recent wave of endorsements.
With Bradley's biggest threat being that he has more money on hand than Gore to continue his campaign, the vice president is looking for ways to boost his profile through his government duties while keeping down campaign costs.
To that end, the campaign scratched the town meeting in Macon, making only a quick stop on the airport tarmac, while flying at taxpayer's expense to Camilla so Gore could tour areas that were devastated in Monday's tornadoes in southwest Georgia that left 19 people dead, more than 100 injured and about $25 million in damage.
In Macon, Gore spoke as Air Force II sat behind him on the tarmac.
''When I leave here, I'm going to be leaving as vice president to go down and try to extend help to those folks,'' Gore said awkwardly. ''But while I'm here, I want to ask for your help in my campaign.''
While Clinton has made disaster relief a personal specialty, normally taking such trips, Lehane said that since Gore was scheduled to be in Georgia before the tornadoes struck it made sense for him to go and survey the damage and comfort victims and their families. He said only ''a very small fraction'' of the cost of Gore's travels yesterday would be picked up by taxpayers.
Bob Hohler of the Globe Staff contributed to this report from New York.
