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Gore gets tough in non-debate
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Oct. 28, 1999 | HANOVER, N.H. --
Beyond the superficiality of Bradley's philosopher- To Gore's chagrin, the format of the town meeting seemed to be designed to avoid pitting
one candidate against the other. Members of the audience, chosen by
lottery from the Upper Valley region, asked one question to one
candidate, and that candidate was given 90 seconds to respond. There
were no follow-ups, introductory or closing remarks, and no direct
confrontations. Nonetheless, Gore continued to step up his attacks on Bradley -- who matches
him in cash-on-hand, and leads the vice president in the state,
47-39 percent, according to a Quinnipiac College poll
released Tuesday. Gore hammered home his differences with the
stunningly strong insurgent on school vouchers, health care and U.S.
intervention abroad. Bradley, meanwhile, continued to brush off
Gore's charges like so much dandruff. The last time Bill Bradley came up to Dartmouth College for a major
competition, he only had a so-so night. On Feb. 19, 1965, the
Princeton Tigers handed the Dartmouth Indians their shorts, 83-57,
but Bradley -- for whom expectations were and will always be
superhumanly high -- only managed to score 19 points. (In his previous
trip to Dartmouth, on Feb. 8, 1964, he scored 31 points and
was the only Tiger to hit double figures.) Wednesday night's was another decent if unspectacular performance. One of the few
solid, substantive punches that landed occurred when
Gore pointed out that Emory University Medical School just assessed
that Bradley's health-care proposal would cost $1.2 trillion over a
decade -- as opposed to the $650 billion price tag Bradley had
assigned it. "That's more than entire budget surplus," Gore said. "We need to save
some of the surplus to save Medicaid. The cost is way excessive." The
next time Gore was asked a question -- on violence in schools -- he took a
few seconds to continue bleeding Bradley's plan. "The numbers have to
add up," he said, noting that "one of the reasons why we have a
strong economy" is because of diligent planning. Bradley's proposal, he
said, is "something that oughta be looked at very carefully." To that, Bradley just said: "We each have our own experts. I dispute
the cost figure that Al has used." And when handed a question about the
still-oozing campaign-finance scandals of the Clinton-Gore
'96 campaign, he refrained from attacking, noting that there were "irregularities that have been
addressed," though he wasn't "going to get into the details." Gore wasn't so easy on President Clinton. Questioned about the climate of cynicism created not only by the behavior of the
GOP-led Congress, but also "the behavior of some members of your
administration," Gore leaped forward
and said, "I understand the disappointment and anger you feel about
President Clinton; I felt it myself."
But Clinton's name hadn't been mentioned, and the
questioner could have been referring to any number of tarnished,
indicted or imprisoned members of the administration the president pledged
would be the most ethical in history. Adding that Clinton is his "friend," and that he feels "it's time to
move on," Gore also suggested that he was a vociferous Clinton
defender during Zippergate because he "took an oath to serve this
country through thick and thin."
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