ust hours after US senator Bill Bradley quit his presidential campaign yesterday, former Senate majority leader George Mitchell shrugged off suggestions that he would be a good running mate for the now all-but-official Democratic nominee, Vice President Al Gore. ''There are many others who would be far more attractive,'' the 66-year-old former senator from Maine said when asked about a Wall Street Journal columnist promoting him for the number two slot on the Democratic ticket. ''Vice President Gore should take his time. ... He can decide in late July or early August,'' Mitchell told reporters in Boston yesterday. In town to address the Boston College Chief Executive's Club, Mitchell said he was committed to working for the Democratic ticket, but he declined to offer advice to any of the presidential candidates. He did, however, leave himself some wiggle room when it came to the vice presidential slot. Instead of clearly ruling out the possiblity of a geographically balanced Gore-Mitchell ticket, the popular Mainer stressed that there were plenty of other likely, but unnamed, candidates for the post. ''It's not realistic,'' Mitchell demurred when pressed. ''There are other, much more attractive candidates who are more likely to be helpful to the ticket. I simply don't think it's a realistic possibility.'' (Globe Staff)
Reform Party faithful look to Perot candidacy
WASHINGTON - Supporters of Reform Party founder Ross Perot are turning up the pressure on him to run for president to help boost his besieged party's credibility, but the Texas billionaire is showing no interest in a third bid for the White House. ''I am not optimistic Ross is going to make another run. ... If he wanted it he would be doing the preparatory work,'' said his top aide, Russell Verney. ''It would take something of a miracle to get him to run for office again.'' At sparsely attended news conferences in more than a dozen cities yesterday, Reform Party members who say a Perot candidacy will help boost the party's stature argued that his silence was reason enough to go forward with efforts to draft him into the race. Pat Buchanan, a former Republican, is seeking the presidential nomination, which comes with $12.6 million in federal campaign subsidies. ''Reform is going to lose its credibility unless Perot gets back in the race,'' said Morgan Erlanson, 39, from Orange, Calif., about 40 miles southeast of Los Angeles. (AP)
Calif. backed marriages of one man, one woman
Californians Tuesday voted overhelmingly in favor of Prop 22, reaffirming a state law that recognizes only marital unions between one man and one woman. Supporters of the proposition had feared that gays and lesbians would win the right to marry somewhere in the United States and that California would be forced to recognize those unions; opponents called the campaign thinly veiled bigotry aimed at eroding gains already won by gays and lesbians. The measure passed with 61 percent of the vote, according to the Associated Press. (Globe Staff)
Statewide results available online
A complete, community-by-community chart of voting in Tuesday's GOP and Democratic Massachusetts primaries is available online at Boston.com at www.boston.com/campaign2000.
TODAY'S CALENDAR
Gore campaigns in New York and Minnesota.
Bush is at home in Texas.
