Oct. 7, 1999
By
Brandon Reid
CyberCaucus 2000 News Service
Drake
University
DES MOINES, Iowa--Vice President Al Gore and former Sen. Bill Bradley are taking different routes in their quest for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"We want to send a message to the rest of the country that Al Gore will be the Democratic nominee," said Jud Lounsbury, communications director for Iowans for Gore. "We want to not only win, but to win big in Iowa so that Democrats around the country will circle their wagons around Al Gore. We've got to recognize that he's our nominee and move forward to the next phase."
Lounsbury said Gore and his campaign are so certain they will win the nomination they are focusing their energy on catching the leading contender for the Republican nomination, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas. Meanwhile, Bradley and his campaign are hoping to limit Gore to less than 75 percent of the support in the Iowa Democratic caucus in January.
"Our objective is to win 30 percent of the caucus," said Maureen Monahan, Iowa press secretary for Bill Bradley for President. "Al Gore has been working on the party-goers and the activists for the last eight years. So, we're trying to get new people to go to the caucus. If Al Gore can't get 75 percent of the vote based on eight years of campaigning to the target audience, we win."
With the Iowa caucuses four months away, the Bradley and Gore campaigns are starting to tighten down their fronts. More and more pressure is being placed on the shoulders of the local campaign offices to give their candidates a good showing at Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses.
"We're counting on a great showing in Iowa and then hopefully that will put Bradley in a position where he'll need to try to pick up steam down the trail," Lounsbury said. "It's really hard to recover after a big Iowa loss."
Volunteers and employees for Bradley's Iowa office work in a gutted storage area at the end of a long hallway, dodging raggedy sofas and chairs to answer phones and juggle press releases. All the noise of the Bradley campaign office could be a sign that Bradley has a legitimate shot at beating Gore in the Iowa caucus. Or, it could be the sound of an underdog fighting and scratching for all the support he can gain.
"Bill Bradley has definitely been surging," Monahan said. "As people get to know him, a lot of people are throwing their support to him."
Improving name recognition is the No. 1 goal of the Bradley campaign. Bradley has focused on meeting with groups of 30-40 individuals in Iowa instead of addressing large crowds. Monahan said the small group atmosphere has the effect of a stone thrown into water because the media reports on the event and Bradley's message "ripples out to voters."
"Our strategy is to introduce Bill Bradley to the people," Monahan said. "[The small group] is a very effective means for people to get to know Bill Bradley, but it's also a great way for Bill Bradley to get to know what's important to people. We want to bring new people into the caucus. I would say we are targeting people who have felt left-out."
Nationally, Bradley has gained the support of three senators: Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska and Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota.
"When you look at the three senators who have endorsed Bill Bradley, they're considered to be some of the best men in the Senate," Monahan said. "So, for them to throw him support is tremendously flattering, and it also gives us a lot of national credibility."
Bradley is closing in on Gore financially. When the campaigns reported their earnings in June, Gore had raised $17.5 million and Bradley had raised $11.7 million. Monahan said third-quarter earnings, which will be reported Oct. 14, could show Bradley slightly ahead.
"It makes us credible," Monahan said. "It shows that people think we can win. People don't want to give money to a lost cause. Even if we don't out-raise Gore, we're still doing very well on that level."
Lounsbury takes a different angle on campaign earnings.
"You're always going to have a certain percentage of people who aren't going to want to give to the front-runner," Lounsbury said. "And, I think the fact that he's the only challenger has kind of created an influx or kind of windfall for him."
Lounsbury said Gore has strong support throughout Iowa and the nation. "I think we're very, very healthy here in Iowa," Lounsbury said. "I think nationwide, we're in very good shape as well."
Gore is attempting to become the first vice president since George Bush in 1988 and the third vice president in U.S. history to succeed to the office of the president.
Lounsbury said the success of the Clinton administration, especially its success in building a strong economy, has helped Gore gain support from voters.
"I think most Americans agree that we're on the right track and they like Al Gore's ideas that now that we have that economic growth, we can expand that prosperity to everyone," Lounsbury said.
The Gore office recently completed its 99 Caucus Blitz. The campaign set up offices in all 99 Iowa counties to help support Gore and to get voters out on caucus day.
"One thing that we're kind of proud of that we've kind of been the first campaign to do is to organize all 99 counties," Lounsbury said. "That's where we basically set up a structure in each county. We feel that we've reached a threshold of support where we've got enough people in the Gore column."
Gore has the support of a number of Iowa political leaders including Sen. Tom Harkin, Rep. Leonard Boswell and Gov. Tom Vilsack.
"I think overall we've been very pleased with the level of support we've gotten," Lounsbury said. "It was very big [to get their endorsements]. They bring along their own organizational infrastructure that we can plug into."
Bottom line, Lounsbury said, is the Iowans for Gore campaign is seeking to keep a Democrat in office. He said the Iowa caucus will serve an integral role in achieving this goal.
"Iowa has a huge opportunity to free [Gore] to take on the Republicans right away instead of a long, drawn-out primary/caucus season where he's got to spend millions of dollars and lots of time and resources beating Bradley, instead of focusing on Bush," Lounsbury said. "We've tried not to get into attacks on Bradley. I think we keep our focus on the Republicans. The best way for Al Gore to take on the Republicans is to get by Bradley as soon as possible. I guess that would be Bradley's vulnerability in the sense that many Democrats feel that support for Bradley is support for Bush and the Republicans."