ANCHESTER, N.H. - Outraged at the Senate for voting down a treaty banning nuclear-weapons testing worldwide, Vice President Al Gore takes to the airwaves tomorrow to declare ''there's no more important challenge than stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.''
The 60-second television ad, said to have been written by Gore himself, will air on WMUR in New Hampshire, as well as in Iowa, and nationally on CNN. Next week, biographical ads about the vice president are also expected to go on television in Iowa and New Hampshire, two crucial, early states in the race for the Democratic nomination.
For the test-ban ad, Gore talks about President Kennedy's making nuclear arms control a national priority, and President Bush's halt of all US testing of nuclear weapons.
''This vote goes against the tide of history and the advice of former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from the Clinton, Bush, Reagan, and Carter administrations,'' Gore says in the ad.
''I believe in my heart this vote does not speak for the American people,'' he says. ''So why don't we do something about it?''
If elected president, Gore says he wants to go into office with a mandate from the voters to send the treaty back to the Senate to be ratified.
''If you agree, we can change this mistake and once again lead the world toward peace.''
Gore taped the spot early yesterday in Seattle, where he had spent the day campaigning before aerospace union workers. The Senate voted 51-48 on Wednesday against approving the treaty. Sixty-seven votes were needed for ratification. Only four Republicans voted for it.
Except for Republican Steve Forbes, Gore is the only presidential candidate so far to hit the airwaves in New Hampshire. Forbes is airing a biographical ad featuring his wife and five daughters, and another ad covering Social Security, health care, and taxes.
To the Bradley campaign, the advertising is a sign that Gore won't be easily handed the Democratic nomination for president.
''I think this is a recognition on the Gore campaign's part that this has become a very competitive race with Bill Bradley here in New Hampshire and throughout the country,'' said Mark Longabaugh, Bradley's New Hampshire director. ''They went for a long time where they tried to ignore us and now they realize the race is engaged and it's a very competitive situation and they have to get on television.''
Longabaugh would not say when Bradley will begin airing his television ads, but said the senator has the money to run a competitive ad campaign.
For Gore, the nuclear arms control issue is one in which he has been involved for the past two decades, in both the House and the Senate.
In Congress, Gore put forth a comprehensive arms control proposal in the 1980s and he co-chaired the US-Russia bilateral commission, which oversaw a program to deactivate 2,500 Russian nuclear missiles pointed at the United States.
''He feels very strongly about it,'' said Chris Lehane, his spokesman. ''He thought that the United States Senate made a huge mistake.''
