Showtime At The Apollo!
Al Gore and Bill Bradley meet Monday night in their only scheduled debate in New York before the state's March 7 Democratic primary.
The debate certain is to focus on race and urban issues, and will be held at the famed Apollo Theatre in Harlem. CNN is carrying the 90-minute debate live beginning at 9 p.m. ET.
Warming up for his debut at the Apollo, Al Gore walked the streets of Harlem Monday, enjoying the advantages of being Bill Clinton's vice president. Speaking in Brooklyn, Bill Bradley questioned Gore's willingness to help people who don't have health insurance.
Calling health care "an American birthright," Bradley, who has proposed a plan for universal access to health insurance, warned that voters should be skeptical of Gore's criticism of that plan. "I am disappointed that Al Gore has attacked and distorted it.
Al Gore and Bill Bradley meet Monday night in their only scheduled debate in New York before the state's March 7 Democratic primary.
The debate certain is to focus on race and urban issues, and will be held at the famed Apollo Theatre in Harlem. CNN is carrying the 90-minute debate live beginning at 9 p.m. ET.
Warming up for his debut at the Apollo, Al Gore walked the streets of Harlem Monday, enjoying the advantages of being Bill Clinton's vice president. Speaking in Brooklyn, Bill Bradley questioned Gore's willingness to help people who don't have health insurance.
Calling health care "an American birthright," Bradley, who has proposed a plan for universal access to health insurance, warned that voters should be skeptical of Gore's criticism of that plan. "I am disappointed that Al Gore has attacked and distorted it. It casts doubt on his commitment to a basic plank in the Democratic platform."
Gore campaign strategist Bill Knapp dismissed the Bradley's strategy by saying, "He's going to throw battery acid around." Knapp said Gore's own sharp critique of Bradley and his agenda was different because Gore is "just defending his record and saying what he wants to do as president."
The Democratic presidential rivals were meeting late Monday at the Apollo Theatre, a Harlem landmark, in a 90-minute debate on urban and racial issues. State party officials estimate that between 35 percent and 40 percent of voters in New York's Democratic primary on March 7 will be black and Hispanic.
Polls give Gore a prohibitive lead among minority voters, much of it inherited from his shared tenure with President Clinton.
Bradley's campaign has suffered from a lack of direction - and media attention - political watchers say. Former vice-presidential candidate Jack Kemp told the CBS News Early Show Monday that Bradley's chances of a comeback are remote:
"I believe it going to be tough, I think he's toast," said Kemp.
Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo echoed the sentiment, saying that because Bradley left the Congress, he cannot claim to have participaed in the economic successes of the Clinton-Gore administration. Therefore, reasoned Cuomo, Bradley has resorted to the dubious tactic of attacking Gore.
That strategy probably won't work very well at the Apollo, given Gore's immense popularity among black voters, especially in urban areas.
Moreover, since his squeaker of a win in New Hampsire, Gore has honed his ability to ward off Bradley's attacks from the left by securing the endorsement of NARAL, the nation's largest abortion rights advocacy group.
Overall, said Cuomo, the Democratic campaign has been out of the limelight as GOP rivals John McCain and George W. Bush slug it out in a slew of early primaries across the county. Cuomo reasoned that, in the long run, the lack of exposure will be good for the Democrats.
"They should stay off the planet, they're doing extremely well," Cuomo said of the Democrats.