EW YORK - Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan formally endorsed Bill Bradley for president yesterday, saying that Vice President Al Gore ''can't be elected.''
Moynihan, a scholar and former Harvard professor, quoted Woodrow Wilson as saying the presidency required candidates ''from among wise and prudent athletes, a small class.''
Bradley was a Rhodes scholar and a player on two NBA championship teams with the New York Knicks.
''I've seen this particular athlete, wise and prudent, work in the US Senate for 18 years,'' said Moynihan, 79. ''He is a man with heart and courage and stamina.''
Asked why he was not supporting the vice president, Moynihan said: ''Nothing is the matter with Gore, but he can't be elected.''
At Gore's campaign headquarters, communications director Kiki Moore suggested that Moynihan's imprimatur would make little difference: ''I'm sure President Bob Kerrey appreciated his support in 1992.''
There were other opinions.
''At this point in time, it makes a difference because Moynihan is a venerated figure within the Democratic Party,'' said a Democratic consultant, George Arzt. ''But over the long term, it usually doesn't translate into votes.''
''An endorsement from Moynihan in this state has got to be a great day for the Bradley campaign,'' said Robert McClure, senior associate dean of Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. ''Bradley is pitching himself as exactly the kind of intellectual, moderate progressive that Senator Moynihan has always been seen as.''
Moynihan was the third senator to endorse Bradley, joining Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska. Bradley served three terms as a New Jersey senator, working on the Senate Finance Committee with Moynihan, who was elected in 1977.
Gore has been endorsed by more than 100 members of Congress, including 10 of the 19 Democrats from New York. The state's other senator, Charles E. Schumer, has not made a formal endorsement.
