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Arianna Huffington is dead wrong
In her unbelievable defense of the Serbs, the syndicated columnist condones the massacre of innocent civilians by the Serbs.
By Ian Williams
[12/17/99]

Adios to all that
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By Joe Conason
[12/17/99]

A GOP rebel in Dixie
If passionate presidential candidate John McCain hopes to topple George W. Bush, he may have to dare to be boring.
By Jake Tapper
[12/17/99]

Columbine High School shut down
In the wake of new chat room threats and the release of the killers' videotapes, wary school officials cancel the last two days of class.
By Dave Cullen
[12/17/99]

Bush and McCain go head-to-head
The GOP front-runner blasts his rival's plan for campaign-finance reform.
By Anthony York
[12/16/99]

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Then there were other times when you felt like you were eavesdropping on the incessant bickering of an old, unhappily married couple. When the two would scrap -- interrupting one another and disputing facts and figures, having fights that seemed decades old -- Gore recalled a nagging shrew, Bradley his exasperated spouse long resigned to misery and seething.

On the whole, the second debate, held at Daniel Webster College, hosted by ABC's "Nightline," and moderated by the inimitable Ted Koppel, was a fairly accurate representation of the campaigns they've been waging for the White House -- and occasionally against each other.

Gore, who in his bygone days as an unquestioned front-runner seemed physically unable to pour the name "Bradley" from his lips, has seen his candidacy challenged by Bradley's fund-raising and laconic appeal -- especially here in New Hampshire where Bradley and Gore are neck and neck, according to polls.

A lot has gone down since the two last shared a stage at Dartmouth College on Oct. 27. Most notably Gore has gone on a direct and often misleading attack against Bradley's 10-year, $650 billion health-care plan. Whether claiming that Bradley's plan would deprive health care for poor people, seniors, the disabled; sending snarky e-mails to Bradley challenging him to name the funding source for future Medicare funds; or calling Bradley's proposed $150 health care subsidy an inadequate "voucher," Gore has been hammering away, leaving Bradley and his followers flummoxed and more than a tad resentful.

"Gore wonders why his disapproval ratings are so high," one Bradley supporter groused earlier in the day. "Why doesn't anyone like him? It's pretty simple: He's a jerk."

The first chunk of the debate was far removed from such ugliness. Koppel threw a self-described softball about what kinds of first ladies Tipper Gore and Ernestine Schlant Bradley would be. Guess what? They'd both be super!

Bradley said his wife was "a unique human being"; Gore said that Tipper's works include "seek(ing) out homeless under bridges and in alleyways" -- presumably not just to put warning stickers on their Frank Zappa albums.

The first question from the audience was sensible enough, asking why any sane person would want to run for president with all the media intrusions into candidates' personal lives.

Bradley replied that he was running to promote health care, racial unity and campaign finance reform, and to reduce the number of children in poverty and guns in the wrong hands.

Gore rattled off a similar list -- universal health care, environmental clean-up, gun control -- adding his new catch phrase that he wants "to fight for you." (In the past few weeks, Gore has tried to capitalize on his feistiness, going so far as to replace the tag line of his biographical TV from the clunky "change that works for working families" to "I want to fight for you.")

In one of many sardonic asides, Koppel made sure the crowd noticed "how skillful (Gore and Bradley) are at beginning with your question and ending with what they want to talk about."

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