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Will Gore or Bradley Prevail? |
| Section: CURRENT ISSUES / CAMPAIGN 2000 |
| Author: Ken Rudin |
| Publication:
The World & I Online |
| Issue Date: 1/1/2000 |
| Size: 2,195 Words, 13,663 Characters |
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These former vice presidents haven't been in the news much lately. Van Buren died in 1862, Barkley in 1956. But their legacies live on.
Until George Bush won in 1988, Van Buren had been the last sitting vice president to be elected to the presidency. This year, a sitting vice president is again seeking the presidency. But what had once looked like a slam-dunk for the nomination by Al Gore has now become a genuine, serious contest.
And that immediately brings to mind Barkley, Harry Truman's vice president, who was the last veep to fail in his bid to win his party's presidential nomination.
The ghost of Alben Barkley is being resurrected because Vice President Gore is thought to be in some danger of losing the Democratic nomination--a notion that seemed all but impossible until only recently. His huge war chest, unequivocal backing from President Clinton, and vast grassroots operation convinced most of the Democrats thought to have White House ambitions to stay out of the race.
All but Bill Bradley.
Bradley, who represented New Jersey in the Senate for three terms, mulled a presidential bid several times in the past but always balked. That he would choose to run this time seemed somewhat quixotic at first, given all of Gore's apparent advantages.
Last January, when Bradley first announced he would seek the Democratic nomination,...
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...president. Both of these crucial states hold their primaries on March 7.
The Bradley challenge is welcome news for those of us who cover campaigns for a living, but it's also good for the Democratic Party. Both Gore and Bradley are bright men who have their own vision of where they want to take the country. By the time a winner is chosen, the competition will have made us all better off. vbcrlf
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Publication Details
(The World & I Online) |
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The World & I Online is a
comprehensive academic resource that encompasses a broad range of
articles by scholars and experts in the areas of Global Studies,
Liberal Arts, Fine & Applied Arts, General Science, and Spanish.
Originally published monthly in print as The World & I, our site
includes the complete contents since 1986 and continues to publish
a new issue online each month. |
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