he message of the rally: Numbers count.
There were hundreds of people listening to and chanting for Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley on the frigid cobblestones outside Faneuil Hall yesterday, including 51 Massachusetts lawmakers who endorsed the former New Yorks Knicks basketball star, or 44 more representatives and senators than attended rival Al Gore's endorsement Wednesday.
That was the tally announced by event organizers, who did not mention that Senator Edward M. Kennedy was one of those backing the vice president.
No matter.
Bradley, to whom Celtics legend K.C. Jones gave a team jersey with the promising number 2000 sewn on the front, launched into what is becoming an increasingly common theme in the final three weeks before the New Hampshire primary.
He urged neighbors to see the ''goodness'' in each other, to trust each other, and to band together, by voting for him, to fight poverty and eradicate racial boundaries.
Bradley's adviser on race, Harvard professor Cornel West, introduced the candidate by saying he ''provides presidential gravitas ... the ability to tell the truth, to be courageous.''
Bradley strode onto the dais while a song whose refrain,''people have the power,'' blared in the background. And he stuck to that message.
''People are in control of the process,'' Bradley said, urging people to vote in the state's March 7 primary. The rest of New England, other than New Hampshire, will also hold primaries that day.
Disparaging Gore's health care plan without ever mentioning it, Bradley said Franklin Roosevelt would not have been able to establish Social Security if he did it ''a little at a time.'' Gore's medical coverage proposal would insure all children, but only as a first step toward universal health care, whereas Bradley says his plan would insure everyone.
''I believe we can do that again as Democrats and as Americans,'' Bradley said.
Chris Smith, a 20-year-old MIT student from Alexandria, Va., said the speech was ''excellent.''
''His whole campaign is about showing people what they can do,'' Smith said. ''His message is getting really powerful now.''
The coda to Bradley's remarks was the disco chestnut ''Ain't no stopping us now ... we're on the move.''
Supplementing the music was the Salem High School Concert Band, whose members said they weren't old enough to vote but enjoyed the up-close view of democracy. Salem Mayor Stanley Usovicz, among a smattering of other Massachusetts officials at the rally, had asked the students to play patriotic songs.
State Senators Michael W. Morrissey of Quincy and James P. Jajuga of Methuen, Norfolk District Attorney William Keating and former state representative Marjorie Clapprood, were among those endorsing Bradley at the rally.
In the crowd was an equal-opportunity supporter holding a sign saying ''Boston loves Ernestine,'' referring to Bradley's wife. Other handmade posters read ''Black Bostonians for Bradley,'' ''Celtic Fans for Bradley'' and ''A Friend of Bill,'' presumably a nod to the candidate, not the incumbent.
