Gore trumps Bradley in straw poll

By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff, May 16, 1999

SPRINGFIELD -- As foot soldiers patrolled the floor and campaign colonels eyed the fray from perches high in the Civic Center, Vice President Al Gore easily defeated former senator Bill Bradley yesterday in a straw poll held at the state Democratic Party's issues convention.

Gore garnered 68.5 percent of the ballots cast by 1,649 delegates. Bradley claimed 23.5 percent, and 8 percent of the delegates cast ballots with "no preference." Still, both camps declared themselves satisfied with the results of what state party officials said was the nation's first presidential straw poll.

The margin of victory was bolstered by Gore loyalists who aggressively canvassed delegates from one end of the arena to the other, working to maximize Gore's margin of victory to stave off what could have been a political embarrassment for the vice president.

By contrast, the Bradley presence appeared to be limited to one sign in a far corner of the Civic Center and a few dozen plastic basketballs distributed by Representative Paul E. Caron of Springfield, a reference to Bradley's career as a professional basketball player.

Caron, a state committee member who supports Bradley, engineered the straw poll at the otherwise pro forma issues convention, despite pressure from state and national party leaders to cancel it.

"This gave delegates a chance to have their voices heard. I'm very pleased with Bill Bradley's showing," said Caron.

If Caron was satisfied with the vote, Gore's contingent was both satisfied and relieved. Dennis Newman, who coordinated the New Hampshire primary for President Clinton in 1996, relaxed his battle demeanor with a small, tight smile when he pronounced himself "very pleased" with the poll's tally.

Newman said the vice president would have made the same effort in recruiting campaign workers at the convention regardless of whether a straw poll had been held.

But many of the state's top Democratic leaders -- including Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham, House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, Treasurer Shannon P. O'Brien, and Secretary of State William F. Galvin -- received telephone calls from Gore late last week.

Although Gore is scheduled to attend a fund-raiser tomorrow at the Park Plaza, such personal attention from the vice president on the eve of a straw poll seemed to be more than a social reminder.

Despite the national party's opposition to a straw poll, political consultant Mary Anne Marsh said that the experience "could be a blessing in disguise. It gets them off the ground and organized. You might as well get ahead of the game."

Gore's nascent campaign has been dogged by a perception that the candidate is too rigid, that he micromanages the operation, and that Clinton's larger-than-life successes and shortcomings have obscured both Gore's message and his abilities.

The straw poll mirrored levels of support for Gore in several national polls matching him one-on-one against Bradley. But, as Marsh said, it was a level of support Gore should have expected at a Massachusetts convention dominated by party diehards.

Gore's campaign targeted the "institutional support" the convention would attract and "called in their chits," Marsh said. She cited the presence of Michael Whouley, a key Democratic campaign strategist, as evidence of how important the vice president had considered the convention.

Representative Joan M. Menard of Somerset, the state party chairman, had opposed the straw poll but was noncommittal afterward about whether she would oppose such votes in the future.

"It depends what's happening at the time," she said. "Once the state committee made its decision, it was over, and I think the delegates were happy it happened."

As the straw poll was being conducted, the convention heard rallying speeches from several Democratic leaders, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy, former governor Michael S. Dukakis, Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, and former Democratic National Committee chairman Steve Grossman.

The 1,804 delegates in attendance were far short of the 3,400 eligible Democrats. While the straw vote captured most of the news media attention, the convention's business also involved approving an "action agenda" on education, economic equality, health care, economic security, and social tolerance.