BRADLEY CHALLENGES GORE FOR DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOD

By Carol Long Tobias, NRL PAC Director

Former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley is challenging Vice President Al Gore for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Unfortunately for pro-life Democrats, both candidates are solidly in the pro-abortion camp.

First elected to the Senate in 1978, Bradley served three terms before retiring in 1996. During those 18 years, Bradley amassed a strong voting record in favor of abortion.

He opposed the Hyde Amend-ment, supporting instead the use of tax dollars to pay for abortion. Bradley opposed the Mexico City Policy and supported the use of your tax dollars to promote abortion in Third World countries, despite those countries' pro- life laws and cultures. He voted to allow abortions to be performed on military bases and to allow the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., to fund abortion on demand.

Bradley voted against proposed laws that would require parents to be notified before their minor daughter gets an abortion. He voted to keep partial-birth abortions legal, and voted to support Presi-dent Clinton's veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

In 1983, Bradley also voted against the Hatch Federalism Amendment, which would have declared that the right to abortion is not guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Six years later, Bradley signed a "friend of the court" brief in the famous Webster case, asking the Supreme Court to reaffirm its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Bradley was also a co-sponsor of the so-called "Freedom of Choice Act" (FOCA), which would have overturned virtually all state limitations on abortion. According to the Associated Press, Bradley voted not to confirm now-Supreme Court Justice David Souter because Souter's views on abortion were not well-known enough to satisfy Bradley.

The 56-year-old Bradley is a native of Missouri. He graduated from Princeton University with a degree in American history and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University.

He played professional basketball for the New York Knicks from 1967 to 1977, winning two NBA championships. Bradley and his wife, Ernestine, live in New Jersey. They have one daughter and Mrs. Bradley has an adult daughter from a previous marriage.

But pro-lifers have more to be concerned about than Bradley's relentlessly pro-abortion voting record. One of the centerpieces of his campaign has become campaign finance "reform." These proposals would be exceedingly harmful to citizen groups such as NRLC and its affiliates.

NRLC has taken a strong stand against the major campaign "reform" measures in Congress, specifically the McCain-Feingold measure in the Senate and the Shays-Meehan bill in the House. These proposals would severely restrict the right of pro-life groups to educate the public regarding the positions and voting records of members of Congress and other congressional candidates.

Thus, campaign "reform," as currently constituted, would severely curtail the ability of National Right to Life, its state affiliates, and chapters to protect the lives of unborn children.

Pro-abortion Vice President Gore is also seeking the Democratic nomination for president. On the Republican side, there are nine remaining candidates.

These include former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander, former Family Research Council president Gary Bauer, columnist Pat Buchanan, Texas Governor George W. Bush, former American Red Cross president Elizabeth Dole, publisher/businessman Steve Forbes, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, former Ambassador Alan Keyes, former Vice President Dan Quayle, and Arizona Senator John McCain.

New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith has recently decided to launch an independent bid for the presidency, rather than seek the Republican nomination.

Ohio Congressman John Kasich withdrew from the race, endorsing Texas Governor George W. Bush.