Fracas At The Apollo

They were perhaps the two stiffest performers to ever appear at Harlem's Apollo Theatre. Monday night, each of the two main Democratic presidential candidates struggled mightily to persuade a vocal audience that he was more reliable and sympathetic on race and urban affairs than his opponent.

But because Vice President Al Gore and former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley don't differ profoundly when it comes to those topics, the debate predictably descended into squabbling and finger pointing.

In fact, the gloves were off from the very first moments, with Bradley reiterating a charge from a previous debate and Gore countering with heat of his own.

"Why doesn't he walk down the hall now and make President Clinton sign an executive order" banning racial profiling, Bradley asked.

With each thrust and parry, the Apollo Theatre crowd cheered lustily.

This is the only debate the two are holding before March 7, when 15 states, including New York, will vote in Democratic primaries. Bradley, in dire straits, is concentrating on a handful of those states, including the Empire State, and he badly wants to win black voters.

He consistently trails in polls among those voters, and he himself is baffled by that: "If you look at our respective positions, there's no question the positions I've supported are stronger than the vice president's," he said.

But Bradley and Gore basically agree on ending racial profiling, keeping affirmative action, gun control, narrowing the digital divide, improving education, the Confederate flag and environmental justice.

So they sought to win points by attacking each other's voting records, combing the arcana of the past to find blemishes. Bradley didn't attack Gore's veracity or character, as he has in the past. He confined himself to issues and what he sees as inconsistencies. Gore did the same, but occasionally speculated as to Bradley's motives and personality.

Examples? Well, Bradley said Gore, while in the Senate in 1979 and 1981, had voted against withholding tax-exempt status from schools with discriminatory policies. At one point, Bradley pulled out a sheaf of papers, which he said included Gore's votes on the opic. "I'd like to give it to each member of the panel and Bernie (Shaw, of CNN, the debate's moderator) at the break but I'd like you to have it now, Al." And he dramatically held the papers out to Gore, who responded with a wave off and a counter argument that Bradley had voted against an affirmative action measure intended to increase minority-controlled broadcast outlets.

Bradley said the welfare reform bill Gore supported was "truly a gamble with poor children in this country." He referred to "what I call the Gore dance" to avoid certain issues. He said Gore, before he hooked up with President Clinton, had been a conservative Democrat and a "poster boy" for the National Rifle Association.

Gore gave as well as he got, suggesting bluntly that Bradley was desperate, and thus was "tearing everybody else down."

Gore went on to say that Bradley "confuses disagreement (on an issue) with someone not being a good person." And he accused Bradley of launching "personal attack after personal attack." Trying to float, for one moment, above the fray, Gore added archly, "Attacks don't solve problems." And then he attacked Bradley for leaving the Senate instead of staying to fight against a Republican Congress.

The tit for tat often clouded those areas where differences exist between the two candidates. Bradley, for example, is willing to experiment with vouchers, where Gore disavows vouchers entirely. Bradley wants every handgun in the country registered, including some 65 million currently in the hands of Americans; Gore suggest registering every new handgun. The differences in their health care plans (gradual versus dramatic change, keeping versus eliminating and replacing Medicaid) also emerged, but like everything else, it played second fiddle to internecine squabbling.

For all the nitpicking and showboating (both routinely ignored questions in favor of repeating familiar spiels or criticizing each other), Gore and Bradley were preaching to the choir. Their commitment to black voters is clear and believable and sustained by their records. The Apollo audience, which was more involved and responsive than most debate audiences have been this year, swayed between cheers and boos, hisses and applause, offering both candidates some of each.

Gore and Bradley gave it their best, but there were no legendary performances at the Apollo Monday night.

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