ANCHESTER, N.H. - It's a clear sign that the Democratic presidential primary is neck and neck in the Granite State: Supporters of Al Gore and Bill Bradley have begun attacking each other.
The latest blast could come today, when surrogates for the vice president plan to call Bradley weak on health care. Last week, they criticized the former New Jersey senator for having voted in favor of school vouchers. Before that, it was the Bradley troops blistering Gore, saying he was not being a strong enough advocate of abortion rights.
''It is tight,'' said Mary Rauh, one of Bradley's chief supporters, pointing to recent polls showing the two candidates are just a few percentage points apart in New Hampshire.
The use of surrogates to launch salvos at candidates is a time-honored tradition in New Hampshire. The surrogates usually are well-known locally and identified with a particular issue. Attacks by others allow the candidates to continue taking the high ground in public appearances.
Both sides deny they have gone negative. But it's an unmistakable change in tone from just a few weeks ago, when the candidates were avoiding mentioning each other.
Today, the Gore campaign will unveil its New Hampshire health-care advisory board, a group of citizen activists who support Gore and his health-care plan.
Gordon Allen, a former state representative and health-care activist from Antrim, will be there. He said he likes Gore's plans for long-term health care, hospice services, and providing perscription drugs to seniors.
When it comes to Bradley, Allen is dismissive. ''He hasn't really done anything,'' he said. ''He's been kind of a no-show on this issue. When you look at Gore's record, it's pretty impressive.''
Douglas Hattaway, the New Hampshire spokesman for Gore, said, ''We're trying to showcase activists who care deeply about issues like education and health care and get out the message that the vice president is the only candidate with an agenda for change in these areas.''
But he added, ''If one of our supporters wants to talk about Bradley's record, I encourage it.''
Hattaway said the surrogates' press conferences - rolling out advisory boards on education, health care, the economy and quality of life - were always part of the campaign.
Similarly, Eric Hauser, Bradley's press secretary, denied that a recent press conference on abortion was merely an attack on Gore, though it was prompted by a Gore campaign spokesman's misstating the vice president's position on abortion. The group consisted of Bradley backers, including Rauh, a past president of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.
''They decided they wanted to talk about Bradley being a stalwart on abortion,'' Hauser said. ''By no means was it an attack. It was a comparison, perhaps.''
Still, Rauh questioned Gore's commitment to publicly funding abortions for poor women, long a contentious issue. ''I fear he won't lead on the issue,'' she said. ''What he said was, if Congress passes a bill to provide funding for poor women, I'll sign it. That means it won't happen, in my view.''
Nevertheless, Hauser insisted that Rauh and the others were gathered to praise Bradley's record on abortion.
''We're going to keep it at that level as much as we can in this campaign,'' Hauser said. ''We would like a good clean campaign.''
Last week, Senator Lou D'Allesandro, a Democrat and member of the Manchester School Board, criticized Bradley for having voted in favor of school vouchers. Bradley voted seven times between 1978 and 1996 for programs to provide vouchers or tax credits to help send children to private schools.
In response, Bradley told reporters that he is committed to public education but was willing to support an experiment to help troubled, urban schools when he was a New Jersey senator.
Kathy Sullivan, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said the sparring is a healthy sign: ''This is good for us. It shows once again we're the party of issues, while the Republicans are battling over George Bush and Steve Forbes and how much money they can raise.''
