SAN FRANCISCO — Vice President Al Gore, hoping to soon wrap up the 2000 Democratic presidential nomination, campaigned Saturday in California, urging voters to give him a victory in the state's primary next month.
"I'd like to have your vote on March 7," Gore told backers in San Francisco following a campaign event earlier in the day in San Jose. "I want to fight for you."
"With your help, if you give me the standard (the nomination) I will carry it to victory (in the general election) in November," he vowed.
In addition to California, New York, Ohio, Washington and 11 other states will also hold presidential contests March 7, Super Tuesday, that together will award nearly a third of the party's nominating delegates.
Polls now show Gore with big leads in virtually all these states against former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley, his only rival for their party's nomination.
Having already defeated Bradley in New Hampshire and Iowa, Gore hopes to finish him off on Super Tuesday. Bradley admits he needs a win soon to keep his White House hopes alive.
He is now focusing his time and money in Washington state, which holds a non-binding primary next Tuesday in advance of its March 7 presidential caucus.
Gore arranged to travel to Washington state later Saturday to address the state Democratic party and the Seattle chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Bradley was also to speak to the NAACP. But he announced he would not attend the state Democratic party event, charging the party had abandoned its neutral stance to back Gore.
Bradley arranged to hold a chili dinner of his own in Seattle to counter one being put on nearby by the state party. Earlier this week, Washington state Democratic chairman Paul Berendt wrote a letter to Bradley urging him to pull what Berendt called "attack ads" targeting Gore.
Bradley refused, saying his spots accurately note that Gore had a conservative voting record while a member of Congress more than a decade ago on such issues as gun control and abortion rights.
In San Jose Saturday, Gore received the endorsement of the city's mayor, Ron Gonzales, and asked a crowd of several hundred to support his White House bid.
Gore was joined in San Francisco by Gonzales and two other California mayors who have endorsed his candidacy, San Francisco's Willie Brown and Oakland's Jerry Brown.
In San Francisco, Gore spoke to a few dozen people at Opportunity Network, a non-profit company that provides high-tech training to low-income children.
Gore said as president he would close the "digital divide" between those with access to computers and the Internet and those who cannot afford it.