efore Senator Edward M. Kennedy had uttered a word of praise, Al Gore shook his hand, looked into his blue eyes, and said: ''Thank you.''
''It gets better,'' Kennedy shot back.
And it did.
When the senator was finished giving his long hoped for endorsement to Gore, delivered at Dorchester's Grover Cleveland Middle School and again in Portsmouth, N.H., he had to wipe the sweat from his brow and rest on a chair.
But although Kennedy's support was delivered enthusiastically, after weeks of hedging over whether to endorse Bill Bradley instead for the Democratic presidential nomination, some were still questioning the announcement.
Richard Goodwin, a longtime Kennedy family friend, said the senator is more ideologically aligned with Bradley, who has nimbly played the roles of Rhodes scholar, National Basketball Association star and politician.
''Bill Bradley is closer to the whole Kennedy tradition than anyone in the race,'' said Goodwin, who helped craft Bradley's universal health care plan. ''In general terms, Bradley has a spacious mind and imagination and is willing to take on problems in a new way.''
But there is one thing Kennedy does not like about Bradley: The cost of his health care plan; it was a criticism the senator let slip at a public apartment complex in Portsmouth. Kennedy also said Gore's health care proposal had the best chance to ''get to universal coverage.''
Bradley's health care plan would cover everyone, although Gore says not well enough. Gore's plan would cover all children, and move slowly toward universal medical insurance.
Still, skeptics asked, is cost really the reason Kennedy passed over Bradley, whom the senator otherwise described as a ''really attractive candidate''?
For one thing, Gore helped push through Kennedy's sister Jean Kennedy Smith's ambassadorship to Ireland, a post she held longer than anyone until stepping down in 1998.
''He got her sister the job of her life, and Gore made sure it happened,'' said Democratic consultant Michael Goldman, who is working for Bradley.
And then there is the matter of keeping the party establishment happy.
''Don't forget, there's an election next year, '' Kennedy, who is seeking another term, said after the Dorchester event. He was only partly joking.
When the two men arrived in New Hampshire after an hourlong motorcade, there was noticeably improved chemistry between the two, who were once colleagues in the Senate. Kennedy also served in that chamber with Gore's father.
''There is no family that has given more service to our country than the Gores of Tennessee,'' Kennedy said at the Margeson Apartments, causing a buzz in the audience. Some thought it odd for Kennedy to say that given his own family's role in government.
''I give my wholehearted, unequivocal support ... to the next president of the United States, Al Gore,'' Kennedy added.
Gore said it was ''a great honor'' to receive the endorsement. ''For the champion of health care to give his endorsement to my campaign ... obviously is something that makes me feel overwhelming gratitude.''
