OCHESTER, N.H. - After a false start in October, Governor Jeanne Shaheen finally formally endorsed Vice President Al Gore for president yesterday, at a boisterous rally in a school gymnasium here.
Shaheen, the top Democrat in New Hampshire and the only one with a statewide political organization, had planned to give Gore her blessing on Oct. 18 in Dover. But when the state Supreme Court threw out a plan by the Legislature to finance public education three days earlier, Shaheen decided to hold off until the crisis had abated.
''Here in New Hampshire, you helped us turn the corner from recession to growth, from unemployment to opportunity,'' she said, declaring Gore to be the best candidate for the Democratic nomination.
The crowd of about 400 at the Chamberlain Street School was so enthusiastic that Shaheen had to shush their chants for the vice president. ''I'm not done yet! Wait a minute, wait a minute!'' she cried, before ticking off issues where she said Gore would make a difference.
Gore, who said he was ''deeply honored,'' reminded his supporters of the time when 10,000 jobs a year were being lost here and people were moving from the state. Today, he said, 16,000 jobs a year are being created.
''New Hampshire is on a roll! Let's keep it going,'' he said, promising never to forget the state should he win the Feb. 1 primary. Later, Gore and Shaheen knocked on doors in a neighborhood, distributing fliers and asking for votes.
Meanwhile, Bill Bradley's campaign said it would win New Hampshire with the people, rather than with the political establishment. Mark Longabaugh, the former New Jersey senator's state director, said the endorsement had come as no surprise to him: ''Al Gore has been aggressively courting the political establishment for nearly 12 years now.''
<
