t wasn't supposed to be like this.
Bill Bradley, the former senator from New Jersey, said he wanted to run a clean campaign of ideas, not dirty tricks. Vice President Al Gore said he, too, wanted to campaign above the fray, sticking to the issues.
So when Bradley leaflets handed out this week at drugstores throughout New Hampshire accused Gore of ''uncontrollable lying,'' the vice president said he was surprised by the invective.
''I thought he was proposing a different kind of campaign, but this doesn't even meet the minimal standards of civility,'' Gore said in a telephone interview from Iowa yesterday. Also, he said Bradley's reaction to criticism about his health care plan shows ''a mighty thin skin.''
By the end of the day, the Bradley campaign had backed away from what was supposed to have been an all-in-good-fun campaign stunt - handing out mock prescriptions for ''Gore-itis'' - and issued an apology that reflected the tensions within the organization over how to respond to Gore.
''This flier is not characteristic of Bill Bradley, nor the style in which he has run this campaign,'' said Doug Berman, Bradley's chairman. ''I am confident it will not happen again.''
Mark Longabaugh, the New Hampshire director for Bradley, said, ''these were intended to be a tongue-in-cheek response'' to the Gore campaign, which had senior citizens pass out literature about the vice president's prescription drug proposals at pharmacies in 11 towns throughout the state Wednesday.
''Unfortunately, the characterizations contained in this flier went further than they should have,'' Longabaugh's statement said. ''For that, I would like to issue a formal apology to the vice president on behalf of myself and the Bill Bradley for president campaign in New Hampshire.''
But while Longabaugh took the blame for the attack on Gore, campaign officials in New Jersey refused to say whether they had signed off on the mock prescription idea.
The Bradley campaign has fumed for weeks while Gore pounded it daily on Bradley's proposal to provide near-universal health insurance. Gore has argued that the plan would use up the budget surplus, setting aside no funds to shore up Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly.
He has said that it would destroy Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for the poor and disabled. Bradley's proposed subsidies for private insurance are grossly inadequate, Gore has said, placing some African-Americans, Latinos, disabled people, people with HIV, and nursing home patients at risk.
The Bradley campaign says Gore is not telling the truth. In towns throughout New Hampshire Thursday, Bradley campaign workers passed out mock prescription forms citing the disease ''Gore-itis.'' The symptoms, it said, include ''uncontrollable lying.'' The leaflet prescribed a lifetime supply of truth serum and said Gore should take a healthy dose, ''especially when talking about the Bill Bradley health plan.''
Gore said in the interview that the real problem is that Bradley accepted a ''deeply flawed'' health plan that would benefit private insurance companies. Instead of being willing to debate the specifics, Gore said Bradley is lashing out when criticized. (They are scheduled to meet Friday at Daniel Webster College in Nashua for their first forum since an October town hall meeting in Hanover.)
''I kind of thought that after the trouble Bob Dole got into in New Hampshire in '88, that it would be the next millennium, not this one, before a candidate in New Hampshire said once again, `He's lying about my record,''' Gore said.
Gore said he sees nothing wrong in comparing and contrasting his plans for the future to Bradley's plans - without resorting to name-calling.
''I thought that's what campaigns are supposed to be all about,'' said Gore. ''You propose solutions for the problems that need to be solved, propose new directions for our country and then be willing to answer questions about what you're proposing and have them compared to the proposals of other candidates.
''That's the traditional way of campaigning when democracy works the way it's supposed to,'' he said. ''The idea you can put out some sort of general platitude and then in response to questions about what it means and how it would work just fly off the handle and launch a personal attack, that shows a mighty thin skin.''
Gore also said he stands by his contention that African-Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, and women are more likely to suffer under Bradley's health proposal than other groups because they are more likely to be in low-income brackets.
''It is an undeniable fact that they are disproportionately dependent upon the Medicaid program,'' he said.
''People under Medicaid would be much worse off, not just because Medicaid would be eliminated under his plan, but because of the inadequacy of what he proposes to substitute for Medicaid,'' said Gore. ''If we can replace it with something better, that's fine. But vouchers capped at $150 a month don't even come close to being what's necessary.''
Gore has proposed a plan to insure all children by 2005, targeting families with incomes up to 250 percent of the poverty line, or $41,000 for a family of four. His plan would allow both the children and their parents to participate in an existing federal-state Children's Health Insurance Program called CHIP. Gore would also allow Americans between 55 and 65 to buy into Medicare, and he would provide two tax credits for small businesses that buy health insurance and for individuals who buy health insurance.
