Gore claimed a solid voting record in support of abortion rights in the face of appraisals by abortion-rights advocates that he "frequently voted in favor of restrictions on the right to choose."

The vice president also contended in the Wednesday night debate that Bradley "waited for 17 years in the United States Senate before he put his name on legislation that he introduced on campaign finance reform."

Bradley regularly co-sponsored campaign finance reforms since the 99th Congress in the mid-1980s, including public financing of elections and voluntary spending limits.

For his part, Bradley again mischaracterized welfare reforms in contending that limits on public aid have been substantially eased since he opposed them in 1996, as a senator from New Jersey. He was trying to defend his vote against what turned out to be popular changes.

Gore correctly pointed out that the only notable change has been the restoration of some benefits to immigrants.

But the vice president made a mistake of his own when he said 7 million people have been moved from welfare to work. In fact, welfare rolls are down about 7 million but that includes children as well as working-age adults. And the figure does not measure how many of the adults actually got jobs.

The Democratic debate began with a direct challenge to Gore by CNN questioner Judy Woodruff about his previous distortions of Bradley's positions.

For a few minutes, anyway, Gore picked his words more carefully than usual.

But on abortion, Gore said he has "always supported a woman's right to choose" and the only exception in his voting record he could think of was when he opposed federal financing for abortions for women on Medicaid.

A review of Gore's congressional voting record by the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League concluded that Gore frequently voted in favor of restrictions on abortion rights.

From 1977 through 1985, Gore cast 30 votes that NARAL scored as "anti-choice."

Gore also voted in 1984 to define the word "person" under four existing civil rights laws to include "unborn children from the moment of conception," which NARAL characterized as a move toward an "all-out prohibition on abortion."