Bill Bradley Endorses Front-Runner Dean

helenair ^ | 01/06/04 | NEDRA PICKLER

[Pikamax]

Bill Bradley Endorses Front-Runner Dean

By NEDRA PICKLER

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Calling Howard Dean's campaign "one of the best things to happen to American democracy in decades," former Sen. Bill Bradley endorsed the Democratic front-runner on Tuesday and praised his ability to engage voters.

Bradley, who represented New Jersey in the U.S. Senate for 18 years, joined his rival for the 2000 nomination, Al Gore, in supporting Dean among the nine Democrats seeking to challenge President Bush. The endorsement added to the momentum that has carried Dean to the head of the pack.

"His campaign offers America new hope," Bradley said. "His supporters are breathing fresh air into the lungs of our democracy. They're revitalizing politics, showing a way to escape the grip of big money and to confront the shame of forgetting those in need."

Dean said he was grateful for the endorsement of a "thoughtful, careful person who sought to lead this country with honor and integrity and who stood up against the same forces that we're standing up against in Washington."

Bradley said voters in New Hampshire and Iowa had asked him whom he supported among the Democrats.

"The Dean candidacy engages active participation, not from those who want special favors later, but from those who dream of building a better world now," he said. "And that is why the Dean campaign is one of the best things that's happened to American democracy in decades."

Bradley said more and more Americans are awakening to the fact that they need not have four more years of the Bush administration, and he touted Dean as the alternative.

"When Governor Dean says that his campaign is more about his supporters than about him, he shows admirable modesty, but he sheds light also on why his campaign offers the best chance to beat George Bush," Bradley said. "That is, he has tapped into the same wonderful idealism that I saw in the eyes of Americans in 2000, and he has nourished it into a powerful force."

The Bradley endorsement came amid increasingly sharp attacks from rivals of Dean, who has gained front-runner status with money, endorsements and support in state and national polls.

Both Dean and Bradley started their presidential campaigns as underdogs running against better-known rivals. Both stressed expansion of health care and racial healing.

In the 2000 Democratic primaries, Bradley took a big loss to the sitting vice president in the Iowa caucuses, getting only 35 percent of the vote to Gore's 63 percent. He fared better in New Hampshire one week later, earning 46 percent of the vote, considerably closer to Gore's 50 percent.

Bradley was a favorite of higher-educated, higher-income Democrats, according to party polls, a constituency that has leaned toward Dean in this year's contest.

Bradley, 60, served three terms as senator, from 1979 to 1996. He was a Rhodes Scholar and an All-American basketball player at Princeton and later a star with the New York Knicks.

On Monday, Dean's rivals downplayed the impact of the Bradley endorsement, as they had with Gore's.

"The people in New Hampshire pick presidents," Wesley Clark said while campaigning in Nashua, N.H. "They don't need people to tell them what to do."

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry said he wasn't surprised by the endorsement from his former Senate colleague. "I think endorsements are dubious. Look, Gore endorsed him and the race isn't over," Kerry said.

[Izzy Dunne]

Netx: Michael Dukakis offers his endorsement.
Who will it be?
Film Still pictures at 11:00.

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[Nonstatist]

The people in New Hampshire pick presidents," Wesley Clark said while campaigning in Nashua, N.H. "They don't need people to tell them what to do."

People like Bill and Hillary Clinton.

[Tallguy]

My view of presidential endorsements is that the earliest ones come from the 'weakest' politicians (as measured by their relative abilities to influence the electorate). The stronger politicians can maintain their 'independence' until much later in the game. So far Dean has endorsements from... Al Gore & Bill Bradley... 2 of the biggest losers in the Democratic Party. It wouldn't surprise me if Dukakis is next.

[tbpiper]

Film Still pictures at 11:00.

HA!

[alloysteel]

A Dukakis endorsement is sure to put Dean over the top, but he should still hold out for the biggest one of all, the blessing of the "Former Occupant of the Oval Office, 1993-2001".

Alas, that one shall never come. Somewhere out there, in the night, a bridge too many has been crossed and burned, and no retreat is possible.

Sometimes the dragon wins. That is why men should fear dragons.

[Uff Da]

I wonder how Dean feels with two losers endorsing his run for president............That can't be too comforting !!