EWPORT, N.H. - He has $20 million to spend, a new fighting spirit - and another irregular heartbeat in his immediate past.
Bill Bradley yesterday disclosed that he had experienced another erratic heart rhythm this week, his fifth episode since he sought medical care in December for an abnormal rhythm.
As his surprised aides looked on, the former New Jersey senator made the disclosure in response to a reporter's question moments after his spokesman, Eric Hauser, outlined plans for Bradley to wage a ''very vibrant campaign'' after Tuesday's New Hampshire primary.
Bradley said the episode lasted about two hours. ''And it passed,'' he said, without need for medical attention.
Bradley has been diagnosed as having atrial fibrillation, an irregular beat of the heart's upper chambers. The condition is common, affecting at least 2 million Americans, and is not life threatening.
But the timing of the disclosure is inopportune for Bradley, who spent several days last week in Iowa dealing with distracting questions after he acknowledged that he had experienced four episodes of abnormal rhythms since December. None of those required medical care.
A Boston Globe/WBZ poll based on sampling from Wednesday and Thursday found that 85 percent of likely Democratic voters in the New Hampshire primary are aware of Bradley's heart condition.
Fifteen percent said that what they knew about Bradley's heart difficulties would make it less likely they would vote for him. Three percent said they would be more likely to vote for him, and the great majority, 74 percent, said it would have no impact.
But Bradley can ill afford a 15-percent drag in a close race against Vice President Al Gore.
Bradley said last week that he believed he had no obligation to discuss his erratic heart rhythms if they did not require medical care. His aides said they learned about the latest episode only when they heard him respond to a reporter's question after a town meeting in the historic Newport Opera House.
When Bradley's aides asked him exactly when the episode occurred, he could not be more specific than Sunday or Monday. The incident was so minor, Hauser said, that ''he forgot about it.''
On Sunday, Bradley was ending a whirlwind, four-day bus tour of Iowa before Monday's caucuses. He also interrupted his campaign to fly across the state and attend a memorial service for John Chrystal, a top campaign aide who died last week.
The next day, Bradley was on the go for nearly 20 hours, beginning with interviews in the morning, a concession speech late that night, then an early-morning flight on Tuesday from Des Moines to Manchester, N.H. There, he spoke to campaign workers at 3:30 a.m. and arrived at his hotel in Nashua about 4 a.m.
After about three hours of sleep, Bradley spoke Tuesday morning at Alvirne High School in Hudson. But he was criticized for not matching Gore, who was on the stump before dawn that day after an hour's sleep.
