BOISE -- Their husbands have little chance of winning this overwhelmingly Republican state next year, but Democrats hoped the first joint appearance Thursday by the wives of Al Gore and Bill Bradley would help energize their slumping state party.
Tipper Gore and Ernestine Schlant Bradley both addressed the Ada County Democrats' biennial JFK Dinner, which drew about 850 people. Each attended fund-raising receptions for local and state Democrats before the event at Boise State University.They were cordial on every occasion, even once exchanging pecks on the cheek. But while Tipper Gore said Ernestine Bradley was someone with whom she has a "friendship that goes back many years," Bradley herself said they were not too well acquainted.
"Tipper is a fine person, and in a sense we are both doing similar things," she said. "We try to stand in when they can't be there and do the best we know how."
Bradley's dinner speech was less polished than Gore's, but she was somewhat more animated in explaining what she said earlier in the day was her husband's vision of "uniting the whole country behind a few big ideas, such as health care, which applies to people in Idaho as much as any other state."
But both women got their warmest ovations for urging Idaho Democrats to shake off their reputation as perpetual underdogs.
"I can see that tonight, with the vibrant, robust feeling and spirit that's here among Democrats, that this party is indeed alive and well and on the march here in the state of Idaho," said Tipper Gore, whose remarks sounded traditional party themes and promoted her husband as the candidate with "the values and the vision" to be the next president.
It was Idaho's first look at either party's presidential campaign.
Republican Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and many other elected officials already have endorsed the presidential candidacy of Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the front-runner for the nomination.
The state's congressional delegation is entirely Republican and its Legislature is 85 percent Republican. Democrats hold only two statewide elected offices, and Republicans Bob Dole and Jack Kemp easily outpolled the Clinton-Gore team in 1996.
"The attitude of our campaign is that every state is important and we really do not want to bypass any state," Mrs. Bradley said. "It may be a challenge, but at the same time there are lots and lots of Republicans who have already come out and endorsed Bill."
Cecil Andrus, a former four-term Democratic governor who was interior secretary under former President Jimmy Carter, played host to Ernestine Bradley. Bethine Church, the widow of former Sen. Frank Church, hosted Tipper Gore.