Gore Stays on Offense, Takes Pokes at Bradley’s Record in Iowa Debate

JOHNSTON, Iowa —  A feisty Al Gore went on the offensive during his fifth debate with Democratic presidential rival Bill Bradley on Saturday, challenging Bradley’s record in the Senate on agriculture and criticizing his proposals for health care reform.

Vice President Gore immediately took an aggressive tone, using his opening remarks to answer Bradley’s recent criticism that he is out of touch and living in a “Washington bunker.”

Gore said he has spent his time in Washington working for job creation, gun control and a strong economy. “That’s not a bunker. Those are the front lines in the fight for our future.”

Animated Gore Tries to Trip Up Bradley

On other topics, the discussion during the one-hour debate at a public television station in this Des Moines suburb was muted as the two rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination emphasized their similar stances on issues such as America’s military role, youth violence and campaign finance reform.

But an animated Gore, who used previous debates to try to put Bradley off balance, still attempted more of the same Saturday. Sprinkled throughout the audience were Iowans who popped up like mechanical props when Gore told them to stand. He introduced a farmer to represent critics of Bradley’s record on agriculture and a teacher to illustrate his education proposal.

A more laconic Bradley defended himself against Gore’s assertion that he would not protect Medicare, referring to the vice president’s arguments as “misrepresentations” and “scare tactics.” He said at one point of Gore’s attacks: “I reject that kind of politics.”

However, Bradley ignored most of Gore’s challenges, spending his time calling for “bold leadership” along the lines of presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.

“What leadership is about, I believe, is taking a national problem--health care, education--and turning it into a public issue and then engaging the idealism of the American people in order to make something happen,” he said.

The first joint appearance of the two Democrats in Iowa comes as attention is increasingly focused on the state in which the presidential caucus will be held in 15 days. The debate’s sponsor, the Des Moines Register, released a poll Saturday of 501 likely Democratic caucus-goers showing that Gore is maintaining a solid 21-percentage-point lead over Bradley, 54% to 33%.

Throughout the debate, Gore tried to cast himself in a presidential light, mentioning his experience on the National Security Council. In contrast, Bradley attempted to showcase his small-town Midwestern roots, opening the debate by talking about his hometown of Crystal City, Mo.

The former New Jersey senator also emphasized the need for a new kind of leader, criticizing Gore’s claim that he had fought for campaign finance reform.

“Al said he supported it for 20 years,” he said. “Well, nothing’s happened. . . . There is a question here of who’s going to mobilize and get this changed.”

At the same time, Bradley played into Gore’s hands when he asked the vice president why he thought trust in government had fallen sharply since the 1960s.

It is a point Gore himself makes in his daily campaign speeches, and he used the question to emphasize an element that is central for him on the stump: “I think it’s happened for a number of reasons, Bill,” Gore said. With that, he talked about how he returned from Army service in Vietnam “thoroughly disillusioned with politics” and had his faith in the system restored several years later after seeing people “could make a real difference.”

Gore also tried to gain the upper hand by breaking out of the debate format and calling on people in the audience, who stood silently as he talked about their experiences. He pointed out farmer Chris Peterson, who he said had lost 300 of his 400 acres to flooding in 1993. Gore then asked Bradley why he was one of the few senators who voted against a flood relief bill that year.

Bradley dodged the question and instead called for a change in agriculture policy and outlined his current support for ethanol, a corn-based fuel that he opposed while in the Senate.

“We have to help our family farmers get a bigger chunk of the food dollar,” he said. “I would simply ask the family farmers of Iowa today: Are you better off than you were seven years ago, or do we need a change?”

Exasperated Bradley Responds to Charge

Gore also accused Bradley of “not putting a penny toward” saving Medicare, repeating a charge he has made regularly throughout the campaign.

“Who is going to fight to protect Medicare in the future?” Gore asked. “Is it going to be an afterthought, or is it going to be right up there at the top of the health care agenda?”

Bradley, who seemed exasperated by the continual assault on his health care plan, responded: “For 18 years in the United States Senate, I fought to protect Medicare, protected premiums from going up for senior citizens, time and time again. I will always do that.”

The candidates also quarreled over other issues, as Bradley claimed Gore approaches education as a “bureaucratic box” unrelated to the way people live their lives, while Gore referred to Bradley’s candidacy as an “academic exercise.”

At times, however, the two rivals, wearing matching blue suits and red ties, sounded as if they were reading from the same script. Gore talked about giving “all our children a feeling that their lives have meaning and purpose,” while Bradley called for creating “opportunity for kids to believe in something deeper than simply the possession of material things.”

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Times staff writer James Gerstenzang contributed to this story.