Democratic presidential hopeful Vice President Al Gore gestures Friday as he answers a question during his appearance at a town meeting at Daniel Webster College in Nashua, N.H., with Bill Bradley. N.H. DEBATE DETAILS Details of Friday's debate in New Hampshire between Democratic presidential candidates: WHO: Vice President Al Gore and former Sen. Bill Bradley. WHERE: Collings Auditorium at Daniel Webster College, Nashua, N.H. WHEN: Debate taped from 7:30-9 p.m. EDT and aired nationally on ABC's "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m. EST. Debate will also be aired live regionally on New England Cable News at 7:30 p.m. EST. SPONSOR: ABC News MODERATOR: ABC's Ted Koppel.

"The answer is simple. I won't leave anybody out," Gore shot back instantly, seated a few feet away from his rival on a college stage in the nation's first presidential primary state.

The vice president and former New Jersey senator argued, as well, over education, but found common ground on other subjects in a 90-minute encounter that was contentious and cordial by turns. They agreed, for example, that homosexuals should be allowed to serve in the military, and that now is not the time to set a timetable for a manned space mission to Mars.

Gore remains the front-runner nationally in the race for the party's nomination, as judged in the polls. But statewide surveys show Bradley even or slightly ahead in New Hampshire, where the first primary ballots will be cast on Feb. 1, and he is hoping to ambush the vice president and use that as a springboard to later triumphs.

Gore has said Bradley's costly prescription for universal health care would mean not enough money would be left over for Medicare, and the issue has emerged as a flash point in their increasingly contentious battle.

He repeated his claim midway through the debate, and Bradley had a quick rejoinder: In three terms in the Senate, he said, "I defended Medicare for 18 years. It was through my efforts that we prevented premiums from going up on a number of occasions."

Bradley sought to turn the tables on the health care issue, insisting that Gore answer who he would leave without insurance coverage — the part-time worker, the worker victimized by an industry that is downsized or the "40 percent of the people who live in poverty who don't have health insurance?"

Gore replied: "I want to get universal health insurance with a step by step plan and neither of us has covered everyone."

Opening a new front, he added, "You canceled Medicaid," the health care program for the poor.

Bradley defended his plan to replace Medicaid, a program now run by the states, with government subsidies to help the poor buy health insurance. Bradley, an 18-year Senate veteran, wrapped his defense in language designed to cast Gore as a lifelong Washington insider.

"From the vantage point of Washington, Medicaid looks pretty good," Bradley said. "But if you get out in the country and you see how it's being — how it's applied — you find that it's not working."

The exchange over health care came midway through the 90-minute debate, staged by ABC Nightline on the campus of Daniel Webster College in southern New Hampshire, and the first of two encounters this weekend. Moderator Ted Koppel set only one ground rule as the rivals settled onto their swivel stools: remain seated.

There was little to bring them out of their seats in the first few exchanges, as Gore said he and Bradley both had been blessed with wonderful wives.

They warmed to combat as the evening wore on, though, and Gore's attack that Bradley had not paid enough attention to education prompted a long defense from the former senator.

Bradley conceded that he had supported the use of vouchers in experimental education programs, but said, "I don't think vouchers are the solution" to the nation's education needs. "I have never supported, even in experimental programs, any voucher program that took any money from public schools," he added.

And Gore insisted: "every single time vouchers came up in the Senate for 18 years, you voted for them."

The opening question produced agreement between the two rivals that long-ago use of marijuana should not disqualify anyone from serving in the White House, and they said every candidate must decide how much scrutiny of their past to permit.

"I've admitted that I have smoked marijuana, as the vice president has," Bradley said, sitting a few feet away from the vice president on a stage at Daniel Webster College.

Gore said he had "been open about it," and said he would let the Republican front-runner, Texas Gov. George Bush, "decide for himself how to respond."

Bush has said he hasn't used illegal drugs in the past 25 years, but has declined to address possible earlier use.

Nearly an hour later, Bradley drew the line at discussing his religious faith. "In my own case I've decided my personal faith is private and I will not discuss it in public," he said, although he added that he respected the way Bush had responded to a question relating to religion in a GOP debate earlier this week.

Gore said he favors separation of church and state, and issued a declaration of support for everyone's views on the subject — including, he said, atheists.

A question on gun control produced some restrained jabbing.

"I'm the only candidate in this race who has called for mandatory licensing and registration of all handguns in this country," said Bradley, who added he also wants to move gun dealers out of residential neighborhoods.

Gore stressed that he, too, favors gun control.

The congenial tone first dimmed when Gore, pointing out that he sets aside a chunk of the budget surplus for Medicare, asked Bradley what he would do to strengthen the program for Baby Boomers.

The two men interrupted one another numerous times in the span of a few intense moments, and at one point, Bradley turned to Koppel and said: "See you made a mistake when you said we should ask each other questions."