MORE COVERAGE Bradley bows out, throws support to Gore

BRADLEY: I want to begin this morning with a discussion of my favorite books.

Actually, I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to thousands of delegates and supporters and friends and staff and others who have truly made this campaign a joyous journey. Especially, I want to thank the elected officials who had the courage to follow their ideals and support me in this race, and all the young people who infused the campaign with their energy and idealism. All those that I've mentioned have worked hard, took personal and political risks and given me their trust, and that is one of the great gifts of politics. I want to salute all of them, for they've been the backbone of this campaign, and I will never forget them.

And I especially want to express my appreciation to Ernestine, and I'm glad the country had a chance to ... I'm glad the country had a chance to get to know her passion, and her enthusiasm, and her conviction as I've known it throughout our marriage. And so I want to salute her, and I know that she's been a part of this journey in a very deep way. And so we're both here today to call it an end.

Following the results on Tuesday night, I've decided to withdraw from the Democratic race for president. And while I'm not -- and while I'm bowing out, I'm not releasing the delegates that are on my side. They've been loyal supporters and deserve to have their voices heard.

The vice president and I had a stiff competition, and he won. I congratulate him. He will be the nominee of the Democratic Party, and I will support him in his bid to win the White House, and this morning I called him and told him all that.

It is the tradition of the Democratic Party to fight hard during primaries and then unify and close ranks behind the nominee as soon as the people have spoken. And now it is time for unity. Democrats know that the offerings of the likely Republican nominee and his party are the opposite of where our country should be headed. This country needs Democratic leadership, and I will work to ensure a Democratic White House and Congress. I will also continue to work for a new politics and for the values I laid out in the campaign.

What I do mean by "creating a new politics" in America? I mean a politics that's not polluted by money; a politics in which leaders speak from their core convictions and not from polls or focus groups; a politics that's about lifting people up, not tearing your opponent down; a politics that reflects the best in what is in us as Americans and not the worst; a politics that inspires us all to live up, or try live up, to our potential as citizens and human beings. I'm also talking about a politics that listens more closely to the voices that are not usually heard, a politics that has a special responsibility to leave no one behind. A president is president of all the people, wealthy as well as poor, but a president must listen more closely, because the voices of those who have been less fortunate are not as loud and insistent as those who have been more fortunate.

Jefferson once divided politicians into two camps: those who secretly fear and distrust the people and think they know better, and those who consider the people the wisest guide of the public interest. That is what the new politics is all about, the oldest instinct in our democracy: trusting the people.

The values I cherish and laid out in this campaign are embodied in issues such as access to health care for all Americans, elimination of child poverty, bold steps to get guns off of our streets, genuine racial unity, education that works for everyone and fundamental campaign-finance reform. These are not and never have been political slogans for me. They are and always have been my convictions, convictions I do not change because an election is won or lost.

What makes this a special moment in America is that we can afford to do all these things now, especially since we're living in a time of unprecedented prosperity. And if we did these things, we would all be stronger.

As I said the other night, if we don't seize this moment, future generations will judge us harshly and say, they knew what was wrong, they had the means to make it better, and they did not act.

Abraham Lincoln once wrote that "the cause of liberty must not be surrendered at the end of one or even 100 defeats."

We have been defeated. But the cause for which I ran has not been. The cause of trying to create a new politics in this country, the cause of trying to fulfill our special promise as a nation, that cannot be defeated, by one or 100 defeats.

I want to leave this race the same way I got in. I remember that day, at community development center in Newark, New Jersey, new communities. And the same way I kicked it off in the fall in my hometown in Crystal City, Missouri. And that is with a minimum of politics as usual, and a maximum of respect for the American people, and their dreams. I believe these dreams can be the foundation of a new politics that can truly make our country soar.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, thank you.

Thank you very much. And now we will go to questions and answers.

Q: Senator, you did not use the word "endorse" when talking about Al Gore, are you today endorsing him?

BRADLEY: I am giving him my support for the nomination, I will work for him. And that is what I'm saying.

Q: Is there a difference in your mind between support and...

BRADLEY: It is your call, I'm supporting him.

Q: What's your call?

BRADLEY: We have had this a number of times in the campaign, I'm not parsing words today, I'm saying very clearly, I have called him, I said I would support him, I intend to support him, and I intend to work for the Democratic ticket and for Democrats to regain control of the Congress.

Q: Senator, plenty of other people are speculating on what went wrong, but what's your take, what hoped to your campaign?

BRADLEY: Well, I have a -- I have a choice here. To ... to get into a lot of specifics, or not, and I think of actually Ernestine -- what's the name of that book?

ERNESTINE BRADLEY: "Victory"?

BRADLEY: No. No. No. "Remembrance of Times."

ERNESTINE BRADLEY: Oh the Proust book, "Remembrance of Things Past."

BRADLEY: "Remembrance of Things Past," which is a seven-volume work by French writer named Proust; right?

That is how much I know about it. But, the point is that the seven volumes are written, and by the end of the seventh volume, he says "Well, now I think I really know what it is to write." And that might apply to this campaign, too.

Q: Does that mean you might run again?

BRADLEY: Today, I am leaving the race. We are going to go on a vacation. And I want you to go on a vacation, too.

Q: (off-microphone)

BRADLEY: Pardon me?

Q: You have been loath during the process of the campaign to speak about your private feelings. I wonder if you might break from that today, and explain what this defeat means to you, personally, after so many years of expectation for you to run and become president?

Well, for me personally, today means the, you know, the closing of this chapter. It is something that I believe I gave my full heart, mind, soul and energy to, and it didn't turn out. And as I said the other night, I mean, you win and lose, and this is a loss, and you move on.

My commitment to the things I fought for, to new politics, to the values that I cherish, to the things that I think exemplify those values, will never change, and I think that the people who were involved in this campaign feel that they were a part of something that was a little bigger than themselves. And one of the things that I've -- it's difficult to say because there's a paradox because you're running for president of the United States, but one of the things that I think our supporters and I had -- we -- there was not a lot of self-interest; this was really something directed toward things larger than an individual, even somebody running for president. And those commitments, and those convictions, and those values remain and always will remain.

And so today I see as exiting the campaign and moving on, working to try to support Democrats, and then the future will take care of itself.

Q: Will you run for president again?

BRADLEY: That's the second time that was asked. I'm going on vacation. Larry?

Q: Senator, you built your campaign around straight talk. I was wondering if you would give us some straight talk today about your feelings about the race that Gore ran. It is clear at times you were upset about some of his tactics...

BRADLEY: Well, I think I was very direct when I felt that I needed to be direct about the tactics in the campaign. I thought that there were distortions and negativity. And I hope and I would expect -- I hope that he'll run a better campaign in the general election.

Q: But Senator, you said that you're going to work in support for a man that your basically spent a lot of your campaign characterizing as a lying, flip-flopping, former conservative who should shouldn't be entrusted with presidency. How do you reconcile (off-microphone)?

BRADLEY: I've never used either one of those words. I know that some of you pushed me hard to use them, but I never did.

Q: You said he distorted, he's flip-flopped, he was (off-microphone) conservative...

BRADLEY: I didn't say...

Q: How do you reconcile that?

BRADLEY: I was making comments about the things that took place in the course of the political campaign, and I was calling it like I saw it. I believe that a Democratic president can do more for this country than a Republican president, and he has my full support.

Q: With all due respect, one follow-up, sir. How do -- why shouldn't voters view this as just another example of the old-style politics as usual, which your campaign was supposed to be the very antithesis of?

BRADLEY: Because it's not. I've been very direct in saying that I felt that there were times where there was distortion and negativity, and I'm very direct about that. I also am direct about the need to have a Democratic president, and that's why today I give the vice president my support.

Q: Is today -- is the result of the primaries and the way the vice president won that, is that proof that the old politics is still powerful. Is this a victory for the old politics, the outcome?

BRADLEY: Well, it certainly shows that you -- when you do battle with entrenched power that it's very difficult. And indeed, I think that that's what the story of the campaign was.

Q: Senator, if I can ask a question, you talked about a campaign not polluted by money, that it's a new politics you're going into. Both political parties have said they're going to do everything they can to raise all the money they can with soft money. So, how can that pollution, at least in this campaign, exasperate (off-microphone)...

BRADLEY: It's going to be very difficult, very difficult until you get fundamental campaign-finance reform. And...

Q: It won't happen this year?

BRADLEY: I think it would be very unlikely to happen this year, and that's unfortunate, because the, you know, the fact is that there will be soft money raised, a lot of money raised, and my hope is that afterwards there will be a major effort to get campaign-finance reform.

Well, I believe that the people who stood as delegates for me are people I have deep commitments to. As human beings they put themselves on the line. I'm going to stay with them. I'm also going to stay and speak for the values that I believe and the issues that I championed in this campaign. I'm going to do that throughout this campaign and into the future. And that includes, between now and the convention and the November election.

Q: Senator, there was a point in the campaign of insisting in recent weeks that Vice President Gore would be a wounded candidate because of the 1996 campaign finance. The implication made is that you would be a stronger candidate in the fall. I wonder how you feel about that now since you are going to be campaigning for him, and the ads to be next fall, Republican ads, showing some, perhaps, some of your comments?

BRADLEY: Um-hmm. Well, I think that is within the vice president's capacity to change. And I think he began to do that the other day talking, but, I mean, I think that he needs to do it more. And I do think that he needs to remove that issue, by opening up on what happened in 1996. I haven't changed my view on that.

Q: Senator, what was the nature of your -- of the vice president's response to you this morning, and would you consider the possibility of a vice presidential...

BRADLEY: Um, I don't -- I don't -- I don't share publicly exchanges between the vice president and me, the president and me, or even a cabinet official and me. Never have and won't.

I think that the answer to your second question is no. I mean, I have said that all along. I have said, no, I will not be a candidate for vice president.

Q: What role do you see yourself playing at the convention this summer?

BRADLEY: I don't see, right now, it is -- those are details that will have to be worked out next couple months.

Q: Senator -- the -- Senator McCain is going to be suspending his campaign later today. I was wondering what your thoughts are about what he brought to the process, what kind of contribution he made to the dialogue, and, what are your feelings, of -- about those contributions?

BRADLEY: Well, I think when we stood next to each other in Claremont, N.H. and shook hands, and said that if we were nominees there would be no more soft money, that we were, that we were putting national interests above partisan interests, and even above self-interests. And I think that that was an important moment.

I think that the forces of reform are alive and well in this country. And I believe that he tapped into that. And he -- he is ending his campaign today, same day that I'm ending my campaign. And it shows how difficult it is to run against entrenched power in this country, whether you are running against the entrenched power of a Republican Party, out of office, or certainly whether you are running against entrenched power of Democratic Party, in control of the White House.

Q: (off-microphone)

BRADLEY: I don't know. I am not going to get into all that.

Q: What did your wife just say?

BRADLEY: She said she liked your beard, Jim.

BRADLEY: Yes.

Q: The governorship of New Jersey opens up next year...

BRADLEY: Pardon me?

Q: Do you see yourself in such a position?

BRADLEY: I think (N.J. Senate Minority Leader) Dick Codey should run for governor of New Jersey.

BRADLEY: Not me. That office has got Codey's name written all over it.

He already had one, OK.

Q: You said you hope the vice president would run a better campaign in the fall. Do you feel you will be prepared to speak candidly about it if he is not running that kind of a campaign?

BRADLEY: Yes, I think that I will say what I feel.

Q: ... staff has talked a lot about the external forces that need to be changed, running against (off-microphone) power, the John McCain factor, but what do you think is lacking in you as a candidate that the voters didn't respond to?

BRADLEY: What was my biggest mistake, you mean?

Q: No.

BRADLEY: What they didn't respond to?

Q: Or if you want to answer that one.

BRADLEY: I think that -- I think that we didn't really get across the extent to which this was not a campaign of self-interest, quite frankly, and I think that's what we didn't get across.

Q: What does that mean?

BRADLEY: Well, that was a campaign -- people who came to support me came to support me, like many of those in this room, because they truly believed in what we were trying to do in terms of the goodness of the American people, in terms of the need for a new politics, in terms of the issues that we thought illustrated the values that I espouse and that millions of people in this country held. And maybe we could have done a better job of getting across that aspect of it. And I think that might have been where we had our deepest failure.