Feels Like Fall Already
For Al Gore, the fall campaign is on.
"Our fight has just begun," he told ecstatic supporters in Nashville on his triumphant Super Tuesday night.
By that, Gore meant the battle against George W. Bush, his likely Republican opponent for the White House.
Democratic rival Bill Bradley was to the point about his defeat to Gore.
"He won. I lost," said the former New Jersey Senator, whose aides announced Wednesday he's bowing out of the race.
Gore and Bradley competed in 15 states and in American Samoa. The former swept all those Super Tuesday contests. The latter maintained his Campaign 2000 winless streak.
One voter's thoughts may explain why.
"I'm pleased with the Clinton regime. You know how they say, 'Don't fix it if it's not broken.'" said Gene Broussard, a senior systems analyst from Baltimore who voted for Gore.
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In Nashville, a victorious Gore wasted no time zeroing in on the general election when he proclaimed the Democrats "the party of the mainstream."
Gore said he was the one to "build on our record of prosperity," mentioning Bill Clinton just once.
The Vice President reached out to John McCain voters by claiming he too was committed to campaign finance reform because of a "personal experience."
And when Gore cautioned against "wasting the surplus on a risky tax scheme", he was referring to George W. Bush.
Gore adviser Bob Shrum was even more explicit about how his boss would take on Bush.
"With a budget busting tax cut that favors the wealthy, with an extreme position against gun control, and an extreme position against a woman's right to choose - I think we'll do very well against that kind of candidate."
Bradley took credit for what he called "the beginning of a new politics" by pushing health care, gun violence, poverty, and campaign finance reform on to Gore's radar screen.
His challenge toughened the Vice President into a better candidate, bruising him into shape but never bloodying him.
Overall, Gore "didn't suffer that much damage from Bradley," said Dean Spiliotes, a political science professor at Dartmouth College.
Also, the Vice President "may have actually benefited among some voters when Bradley tried to portray him as having been a conservative" during his early years in Congress more than a decade ago, added Spilotes.
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So much for the "take off" that Bill Bradley predicted Super Tuesday would give his campaign.
"For better or for worse, the whole contest for Bill Bradley came down to New Hampshire," said Charles Cook of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
"That was the state most suited for him," said Cook, noting New Hampshire's fixation to the anti-establishment challengers.
But in Campaign 000, there could be only one insurgent in New Hampshire - and that was McCain.
Before the first-in-the-nation primary, Bradley and the Arizona GOP Senator shook hands on campaign finance reform, both promising to run clean campaigns if they became their party's nominees.
McCain walloped Bush in New Hampshire by luring crossover votes from Democrats and independents as well as by skipping Iowa. Bradley lost to Gore in the Granite State, unable to convince those same voters to back him instead after his Iowa debacle. New Hampshire shifted the Campaign 2000 dynamics to the Republican race, which overshadowed if not blotted out the Democratic contest from that point on.
Then Bradley went on the attack against Gore, but failed to capture much attention or any contests. The two held a spirited debate in New York City's Harlem, but that was hardly a turning point for Bradley. By their final debate in Los Angeles, Bradley had pulled back, perhaps setting the stage to exit on a high note.
A few more Democratic contests take place over the next few days: South Carolina on Thursday, Colorado and Utah on Friday. And the weekend before Southern Tuesday will see face-offs in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, and for Democrats abroad.
Whether there will be a real contest for the Democratic nomination is another question.