Al Gore cleared his way to the Democratic presidential nomination with a Super Tuesday primary sweep that pushed Bill Bradley to the brink of withdrawal. "We need to build on our record of prosperity," the vice president said, turning his focus toward November.
"He won, I lost," said Bradley, all but conceding his challenge was over after losing contests from Maine to California. Two Democratic party officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said campaign aides had told them the former New Jersey senator planned to depart the race on Thursday.Gore won in New England, Georgia, Ohio and several stops in between, regularly gaining 60 percent of the vote or more. Missouri, where Bradley was born; New York, where he played pro basketball -- they, too, went for the vice president.
Gore fashioned his Super Tuesday shutout while Texas Gov. George W. Bush was gaining the upper hand in his battle for the Republican nomination.
A Bush candidacy would set up a general election matchup between two 50-something scions of political families. Gore's father served as senator from Tennessee before him; Bush's father was president and his grandfather represented Connecticut in the Senate.
In remarks to supporters in Tennessee, the vice president said Democrats were "the party of the mainstream," adding, "We appeal to hope, not anger, not to exclusion."
He said his approach was the right one to continue the current economic expansion begun under Bill Clinton -- the only time he used the president's name. In an unnamed reference to Bush's policies, he cautioned against "wasting the surplus on a risky tax scheme."
To voters concerned about education, abortion rights, environmental protection and other issues, he insisted, "our campaign is your cause."
Gore challenged his Republican rival to twice weekly debates between the nominating conventions and Election Day in November. He also said he would continue to hold open meetings around the nation, with his next one planned in Detroit on Wednesday night. He and his wife, Tipper, also pledged to conduct "working family days," opportunities for the Gores to visit workplaces and learn firsthand the everyday concerns of teachers, nurses, factory workers and others.
Taking the offensive on an issue that could plague him in the fall -- campaign finance -- Gore called on the GOP to agree to a ban on so-called soft money.
Polling place interviews with primary voters in every region of the country underscored the vice president's strength among core constituencies vital in Democratic primaries.
Blacks preferred Gore over Bradley by a margin of 6-1; and Hispanics by 8-1. The margin among union members was smaller, but a healthy 3-1. Gore also won the vote of independents, a key element of Bradley's electoral strategy, and a group that the Democratic nominee will need in the general election race. The exit polling was conducted by Voter News Service, a consortium of the AP and television networks.
Gore defeated Bradley in the New England states of Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, completing a regional sweep that began in New Hampshire's leadoff primary more than a month ago. He triumphed, as well, in Georgia, where he was winning roughly 80 percent of the vote; Ohio, roughly 70 percent; and New York, Maryland and Missouri, roughly 60 percent.
California was his as well, and easily. Apart from the 367 delegates at stake there, California's unique open primary system listed all candidates on the same ballot in a popular vote contest, an early gauge of each party's strength in the state that offers the biggest Electoral College prize in the fall.
Bradley came closest in Vermont, where he was gaining 44 percent of the vote.
In addition to primaries in 11 states, Gore won party caucuses in North Dakota, Idaho, Washington and American Samoa. The two men also sought delegates in caucuses in Hawaii.
The delegate tally lagged the popular vote by hours.
The AP delegate tally showed Gore with 1,150 of the 2,170 needed to win the nomination at the Democratic National Convention this summer in Los Angeles. Bradley had 345.
The delegate count would be a mere formality, though, if Bradley read the returns and decided to end his challenge.
Bradley telephoned his congratulations to Gore, then appeared before supporters. Despite his defeats, he claimed credit for having launched "the beginning of a new politics" and for elevating the issues of gun violence, poverty and campaign finance reform. He said he would announce his plans in the next few days.
One Gore voter on Tuesday, Gene Broussard, a 49-year-old senior systems analyst from Baltimore, said, "I'm pleased with the Clinton regime. You know how they say, 'Don't fix it if it's not broken."'
While Gore and Bradley clashed numerous times, the animosity fell well short of previous Democratic nominating battles. On one issue where Gore seemed vulnerable -- his involvement in questionable fund-raising activities in 1996 -- Bradley never made a sustained attack.
Gore built his delegate advantage by routing Bradley in the leadoff Iowa caucuses in January, then edging him in the nation's first primary in New Hampshire eight days later. Those triumphs, coming on the heels of seven years of vice presidential service, allowed him to pile up hundreds of pledges of support from convention "super delegates."