Politics

Bradley Sends Gore Leftward

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 11, 2000 / 3:16 PM EST / CBS

Some presidential challengers, most notably Steve Forbes on the Republican side, claim to have influenced the issues in Campaign 2000. For Democrat Bill Bradley, there's ample evidence to support such a claim, should he ever want to vocalize it.

Bradley's hopes of winning the Democratic nomination are slim. But his campaign is having something of an impact on front-runner Al Gore's ability to run down the middle of the road, where he's most comfortable. This week, for example, Bradley successfully forced Gore to make a highly public left turn on the abortion issue.

Campaigning in Seattle, Bradley told supporters that Gore has "chosen to equivocate rather than explain his position on abortion."

The former New York Knick repeated the same message all week. Bradley, a lifelong supporter of abortion rights, accused Gore of hiding the fact that as a congressman he opposed federal funding of abortion for poor women.

"I think consistency on this issue is crucial," Bradley said.

Vice President Al Gore conceded this week that his position on abortion has shifted over the years.

In making the admission, Gore also accused Bradley of trying to use the issue to drive a wedge between Democrats.

"For far too long some politicians have been willing to play with the issue of choice for their own personal political ambition," Gore said at a $200,000 backyard fund-raiser Thursday. Gore read from notecards in what was his most extensive explanation to date of his anti-choice positions as a congressman.

"Since then, I have come to believe that because poor women deserve the same constitutional right to safe, legal abortions that more affluent women have, they need Medicaid funding so they can make that decision for themselves." Gore said.

Stories from women about the circumstances in which they had to seek abortions so changed his mind on the issue, Gore said, that "it is impossible for me to now imagine anyone making that choice except for the woman who is involved."

Another force that has been instrumental in Gore's disclosure has without doubt been his wife, Tipper. She has come out alongside Bradley's wife Ernestine at recent campaign events and staunchly defended a woman's right to choose.

Regardless of whether Bradley can pull together an upset on Super Tuesday - or even get enough delegates to stay viable - it's clear this week that his campaign has mustered the gravitas to at least help shape the race.

That's more than most of the current crop of challengers can truthfully claim.