Dems Fight For Crown Jewel
Down in the polls and running out of options, Bill Bradley is back on the campaign attack against Vice President Al Gore, reports CBS News White House Correspondent John Roberts.
The former New Jersey senator is hammering his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination on everything from Gore's record on abortion rights to gun control.
"He has said he always supported Roe v Wade - that's not true," said Bradley about Gore.
The vice president is having none of it.
"I don't need a lesson on a woman's right to choose." said Gore.
The level of rancor is rising heading into the March 7 Super Tuesday primaries - and nowhere are the stakes higher than in California.
"There's a chance we might actually have an impact on the nomination race," said political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe.
Why? The most populous state in the nation, California has moved up the date of its primary and for the first time stands to play kingmaker.
"California is a proxy for America and our March primary is a dress rehearsal for the November election," added Bebitch Jeffe.
Though California is sometimes viewed as quirky, it is in many ways a microcosm of America. It has a growing minority population, high tech industries, small businesses, farming, and international trade. There are looming crises in education and health care - and battles that run the gamut from immigration to the environment.
In an attempt to turn around the 41 point deficit he faces in the Golden State, Bradley pulled out his secret weapon on Friday - the first-ever public political endorsement from basketball great Michael Jordan.
"I know the kind of America I want for my children," says Jordan in the ad. "That's why I'm supporting Bill Bradley. Shouldn't you?"
But Al Gore has his own secret weapon in California: his seven year association with Bill Clinton, who is still wildly popular here - particularly among women, who make up almost 60 percent of Democratic voters.
And why does Clinton remain so popular?
"Because he's been awfully good for California," said Xandra Kayden with the League of Women Voters.
The strength of Bradley's campaign in other states has been his status as an insurgent. But in California, it's said there's room for only one reform-minded insurgent candidate. And as of right now, that candidate is Republican John McCain.