ANOVER, N.H. - The first side-by-side matchup of the Democratic presidential candidates erupted last night over the cost of former senator Bill Bradley's health-care plan, which Vice President Al Gore charged would bust the budget and ''shred the social safety net.''
Bradley, who has climbed in the polls partly by offering a broader health-care plan than Gore, briefly and indignantly addressed Gore's attack.
''We each have our own experts,'' Bradley said during the nationally televised forum, broadcast from the campus of Dartmouth College. ''I dispute the cost figure that Al has used.''
It was one of the few open disagreements - and even fewer moments of discord - on an evening when both candidates, through their answers to voter questions, mostly underscored how similar they are in temperament, ideology and outlook.
Bradley has said his health program will cost $650 billion over 10 years, while Gore quoted a study that said it would cost $1.4 trillion. While Bradley has proposed providing insurance to 95 percent of Americans, Gore has proposed a program that covers all children, which has led Bradley to say that the vice president's proposal is too cautious during a time of prosperity and budget surpluses.
The two also drew dividing lines on a few other issues, with Gore clearly the more determined to draw contrasts with Bradley, whose campaign - only months ago blip in the polls - now threatens to surge past the vice president's in this first-primary state.
Gore, for example, said he disagreed with Bradley on whether to provide tax dollars to help pay for private education. ''I think vouchers was a mistake,'' Gore said, noting that he and Bradley have disagreed for 18 years on the issue. Bradley has supported some pilot programs for trying out the concept of vouchers.
Otherwise, the candidates largely agreed in the substance of their responses to other issues raised by questioners - citizens screened by the forum sponsors, Dartmouth and CNN - such as mental health and campaign-finance reform. But the encounter provided an outline of the campaign to come in the three months before New Hampshire holds its primary, as the two men portrayed themselves as having different paths to reach similar goals.
At the outset, Gore's strategy was clear: he wanted to distance himself from President Clinton and attack Bradley for making budget-busting proposals.
When a questioner vaguely asked about scandals in the Clinton-Gore administration, the vice president interpreted it as a reference to President Clinton's sexual relationship with former intern Monica Lewinsky and the subsequent impeachment trial.
''I understand the disappointment and anger that you feel toward President Clinton,'' Gore said. ''I felt it myself. I also feel that the American people want to move on, focus on the future and not the past. He is my friend. I took an oath under the Constitution to serve through thick and thin.''
The answer seemed significant because Gore has tended recently to try to dismiss such questions, saying that the country has ''Clinton fatigue fatigue.''
At another point, Gore implicitly criticized the work of his own administration on Rwanda, where hundreds of thousands of people were killed.
''I think we we were tardy, frankly, in Rwanda,'' Gore said, without explaining his own role in the decision on when the US would intervene in the deadly ethnic struggle in that African nation.
Bradley, meanwhile, dealt with criticism that his retirement from the Senate in 1996 amounted to quitting at a crucial time for Democrats. ''The things I wanted to do I couldn't do in the Senate,'' Bradley said, noting that after leaving Washington he lectured at Stanford and Notre Dame and met people where they live.
The debate produced no obvious gaffes, and both candidates appeared comfortable on stage, straying from their stools to respond to questions.
Gore, in what seemed a carefully planned attack, repeatedly sought to hammer Bradley on the cost of his proposed health program. At one point, Gore warned that Bradley's program would leave no money for Medicare or education initiatives, urging people to be cautious about ''proposals that may sound great but for which there is no money.''
But Bradley defended his proposal and said he was guilty only of thinking big.
''If you're going to do this, you ought to deal with the big problems and you ought to have big solutions to big problems,'' Bradley said.
Mostly, Bradley seemed determined not to engage in the fireworks, passing up an opportunity to criticize the way the vice president raised money in the 1996 campaign.
''I think there were obviously some irregularities that have been addressed,'' Bradley said. ''I'm not going to get into details.''
Locked in a statistical tie in a variety of New Hampshire polls, Gore and Bradley used the forum both to introduce themselves to voters and to distinguish themselves from each other. For many voters, the forum - or at least sound bites from the event that were broadcast on the news - are likely to provide a first impression of the candidates.
The candidates squared off in the intimate confines of Dartmouth College's Moore Theater, where students often gather to watch popular films. The debate was broadcast locally on WMUR-TV and nationally on CNN, which reaches 76 million households. But with competition from Game Four of the World Series and with the primary still three months away, the viewership was expected to be relatively small, especially outside New Hampshire.
Still, the forum was viewed as vital by both campaigns because it was the first widely covered event of the 2000 election campaign, attracting more than 300 members of the press, who in turn report and interpret the event for a wider audience of millions. Moreover, the strength or weaknesses exhibited in the first-primary state often have a ripple effect in the rest of the campaign. Already, Bradley's strong showing in the New Hampshire polls has boosted his national standing.
As Gore and Bradley and two moderators took their positions beside stools on the stage, they were greeted by an audience arrayed around them, with several dozen people seated bleacher-style behind them and the rest of the audience in front. The audience was randomly selected through a lottery.
Gore sought to take control even before the debate began. The candidates appeared on stage 15 minutes before air time and the vice president immediately asked if anyone had a question. The two men then launched into a warm-up question-and-answer session. Shortly before the program went on the air, Bradley walked over to Gore, shook the vice president's hand, and said, ''Let's have a good one.''
Bradley, dressed in a dark suit, blue shirt and red tie, spoke carefully, drawing out his responses with practiced care. Gore, dressed in a beige suit, blue shirt and striped tie, sought to appear relaxed, taking the time to tell a favorite joke.
