PRINGFIELD, Mass. - As the GOP presidential candidates fought it out in South Carolina, Al Gore stumped yesterday for votes a region away, testing general election themes he is likely to use this fall if he wins the Democratic nomination.
The vice president accused Republicans George W. Bush and John McCain of lacking ''the guts to take on bigotry'' and call for the Confederate battle flag to be removed from the South Carolina Capitol even though, he said, 80 percent of the population favors taking down the flag.
And both of them, Gore said, ''were competing with one another to take away a woman's right to choose. Both of them are in favor of draining money away from public schools. Both of them have economic plans that destroy prosperity.''
Gore spoke before the results of the South Carolina primary were in, and for the first time in a month, made himself available to national reporters who cover his campaign. His aim was to begin defining the Republicans before they have a chance to define themselves, let alone pick a nominee.
Gore's comments followed a town hall meeting at Springfield Technical Community College, as he campaigned in advance of the March 7 primaries in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
At Springfield, Gore applauded President Clinton for taking a ''bold step'' by releasing $13.1 million in low-income heating assistance funds to Massachusetts. He also gave Clinton credit for dispatching Energy Secretary Bill Richardson to the Middle East to try to persuade major oil exporters to increase the oil supply, which would reduce prices. ''I think you will begin to see a decline in prices, there are already some signs that this is taking place,'' Gore said.
But Gore quickly showed where part of his thoughts were on this day. Asked by a man who used to live in South Carolina about the Confederate flag controversy, Gore proceeded to attack both major GOP contenders for their views on the flag, at one point saying, ''Why in the world would John McCain and George W. Bush be so scared of stating the obvious?'' He continued, ''The answer to that mystery is that they are afraid of offending the offensive.''
Later, while meeting with reporters, Gore struck at McCain for having a South Carolina campaign adviser who is ''the editor of the leading publication that publishes the neo-Confederacy documents'' and said Bush's decision to speak at Bob Jones University, an ''antiblack and anti-Catholic'' school, was ''unfortunate.''
But Gore was at a loss to explain a 1981 vote he took as a member of Congress. At that time, he opposed a measure, supported by the Congressional Black Caucus, that would have denied tax-exempt status for private schools such as Bob Jones that discriminate against minorities.
''I'm not familiar'' with the vote, Gore said, adding ''I'm totally opposed to discrimination.''
From Massachusetts, Gore rode by bus to Connecticut, where he greeted union workers picketing a Hartford nursing home, shook hands at a diner in Cromwell, met privately with leaders of the Connecticut AFL-CIO in Hamden, and spoke at a Democratic Party dinner in New Haven.
Across the country in Seattle, Bill Bradley visited a neighborhood health clinic and said all Americans should enjoy primary and preventive care in such intimate and accessible settings. The former New Jersey senator said his plan for universal health care would reduce the number of people forced to wait for treatment until they are so sick they need emergency-room care.
The Country Doctor Community Health Center, which gets 40,000 patient visits a year, uses a sliding fee schedule to serve predominantly low-income and uninsured people in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.
