Even with victories in New Hampshire and a few other early primary states, Bradley couldn't topple Gore without more support from blacks, particularly in the South. That's why the Bradley campaign is questioning the vice president's commitment to blacks and reminding voters about the former New Jersey senator's own record on race relations.

The hurdles facing Bradley are high, but not insurmountable, according to Democratic pollsters and activists.

"Blacks are serving as Gore's Southern firewall: If Bradley happens to win Iowa and New York, then they go south and Gore has a remarkable number of black voters," said Democratic pollster Ron Lester, who surveys for several black congressmen. "Black voters have no reason to leave Gore, but if Bradley can blow Gore out in a couple of states, he might be able to catch on."

The candidates debated Monday -- Martin Luther King Day -- in a minority-run forum in Iowa.

Polls consistently show blacks backing Gore over Bradley by a 2-to-1 margin. That edge won't help in Iowa or New Hampshire, where few blacks are registered to vote, but the impact grows later on.

In nearly half of the 11 states conducting Democratic primaries March 7, blacks made up at least 10 percent of the vote in the 1992 presidential primaries. Still, Bradley's ties to New York and other Northeast states -- and his ability to raise money in California -- bode well for his chances in major states on that day.

Two days later, votes will be cast in South Carolina, where 43 percent of the Democrats who participated in the 1996 primaries were black.

On March 14, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas conduct primaries. Oklahoma is the only one of those states without a sizable black vote.

"Gore's going to come out of the South with enormous margins and it's basically going to be all over but the crying,' said David Bositis, an expert on black voting patterns with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington.

"I wouldn't say it's automatic," said Silas Lee, a political pollster from New Orleans who cautioned that Gore has yet to prove his black supporters are passionate enough to turn out and vote.

Analysts say Gore owes most of his support to President Clinton, who is viewed favorably by nine out of 10 blacks.

"Thank God I don't have to run against Bill Clinton," Bradley jokingly told an Iowa youngster Monday.

Yet Clinton's impact on the race was clear in Monday's debate, when Bradley chastised Gore for not securing a presidential order to end racial profiling of criminal suspects.

Standing by his man, Gore replied: "I don't think President Bill Clinton needs a lecture from Sen. Bill Bradley on how to stand up and fight" for blacks.

Gore is benefiting from administration policies, such as increasing the minimum wage, and from a perception that Clinton-Gore put the brakes on plans by congressional Republicans that would have hurt blacks.

The economy has helped, too. For the first time in memory, Bositis found in 1998 that blacks were more likely than whites to say they were better off financially than the year before.

The Monica Lewinsky inquiry increased Clinton's support among blacks, many of whom felt the president was targeted because of his support of black issues, pollsters said. Gore's steadfast support of his boss may be hurting him among moderate Democrats and independent voters, but it has helped him among blacks.

There are few distinctions between Gore and Bradley on race and issues that appeal to blacks. Each has an interesting story to tell: Gore says his father, Albert Gore Sr., lost his Tennessee Senate seat in the fight for civil rights; Bradley talks about growing up in a racially mixed community and playing professional basketball with blacks.

Irked that Gore is benefiting from Clinton's good will, Bradley aides say their boss will gain support as blacks get to know him. Mark Alexander, a black adviser, said the administration improved the plight of blacks, "but I don't think that is credit Gore should be taking."

Civil rights leader Roger Wilkins said, "The vice president is a friend of mine ... and I like him, but I do not believe he is as mature as Senator Bradley and I don't believe Senator Bradley's commitment to civil rights can be matched by anyone."

In an appeal to black voters, Bradley argues that he is the only candidate to make race and poverty central to his campaign. The Clinton-Gore prosperity leaves too many Americans behind, Bradley said Monday as he put his complaints in the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: "That's not good enough."

Gore advisers say privately that the black vote could swing if Bradley gains momentum.

The Democratic nominee, whoever that might be, will make it his first task to reunite the black community for the general election.

"It's a vote he's going to have to fight for," Republican front-runner George W. Bush warned in a telephone interview from Austin, Texas. He earned 27 percent of the black vote in the 1998 Texas governor's election.