Bradley: Claims The Experience
Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Bradley said Monday that 30 years of "being on the road" has given him a better picture of the American people than Vice President Al Gore has.
"What a leader also has to do is unlock the capacities in all of us to be better citizens," Bradley said at a breakfast seminar sponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures. "That is what I am ultimately attempting to do."
He told reporters later he had broader life experiences than Gore, his rival for the Democratic nomination for president, and that he would be willing to give states more control in spending federal education dollars on one condition.
"I'd be prepared to give the governors more flexibility in how they spend the money if they agree to be measured by the results that they're able to achieve among children who are in districts that have a high percentage of poor children," he said.
Bradley came to Indianapolis on the heels of a fund-raising visit by Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination.
Bush pocketed $600,000 at his Indiana fund-raising event last week. Bradley had hoped to raise at least $50,000 from supporters during a Monday visit.
State Rep. Ed Mahern, an Indianapolis Democrat and co-host of the Bradley fund-raiser, believes Bradley is on a political elevator that will take him to the top. "I believe he'll be the nominee," Mahern said.
The fund-raising event coincided with Bradley's speech this morning to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a lobbying group for the states that is holding its annual conference in Indianapolis.
Bradley already has several Hoosier supporters, including Mahern's brother, former state Sen. Louis Mahern; Donna Imus, head of the White River State Park Commission; and Pat Terrell, a former aide to Gov. Frank O'Bannon and the incoming political director of the Indiana Democratic Party.
The Maherns predicted that once more people see Bradley's candidacy as viable, it will gain momentum.
In addition to being a former basketball star of Princeton University and the New York Knicks, Bradley was a Rhodes scholar and a former U.S. senator from New Jersey.