by Mitch Perry

Tuesday, June 29, 1999 -- SAN FRANCISCO -- In his 18 years in the U.S. Senate, Bill Bradley was known as a centrist in his political philosophy, and for being challenged on a charisma level on the campaign stump. Though the oratory skills still aren't spellbinding, simple math shows that he is the only thing left between Al Gore and the Democratic nomination for President.

While Al Gore and George W. Bush had been creating headlines in Iowa earlier this month, Bradley was ending a marathon 10-day swing through California that concluded just over a week ago, on June 20th. He spoke to a jam-packed audience on an early Saturday morning in San Francisco's Potrero Hill district, where he told the crowd about the three stages of his campaign -- as filtered through the Washington pundits.

The first phase (right now) is about the pundits saying that his campaign can't raise enough money. He spoke confidently that when the next reporting for fundraising comes out (just days from now), the numbers will convincingly erase those doubts. And with Barry Diller, the television executive who helped raise $800,000 for Bradley one recent night in L.A., by his side, it's apparent that Al Gore is not inheriting the Hollywood money machine that Bill Clinton sucked in.

The next challenge for Bradley will be to overcome what has already been accepted as gospel: that Al Gore is the inevitable candidate. Bradley says that will persist until September or October. When he's still around by that time, people will realize Al's not Mr. Inevitable. And "once people realize he's not inevitable, it's a very quick fall".

And by January of next year, he says, it will dawn on people that he can actually win this thing.

Though all polls say Bradley can't do it (a recent San Francisco Examiner poll showed Gore beating Bradley by 30 percentage points in the state), there are a couple of factors in his favor right now. They all involve his opponents -- he doesn't have any. Senators Wellstone, Kerry and Kerrey have dropped out. Dick Gephardt wants to be Speaker of the House. And Jesse Jackson looks like he'll sit this one out.

And there's that other thing: though it's early, Al Gore is being pummeled by George W. Bush in California polls. That "inevitability" halo hanging over Gore is fading just a bit, and Bradley is just waiting for it to fall completely off.

In San Francisco, Bradley impressed the politically-involved audience -- in part, by dissing George W. directly.

When speaking ostensibly about his support for reproductive rights, Bradley said, "I don't think this is an issue where you can be here, and [pointing to the opposite side] here. I think that's where George Bush is going to be during the Presidential election... on gun control, he's going to be here and [again pointing to the opposite side] here... I think by the time of the campaign, he's going to be split apart, if a candidate is skillful enough to point that out. Like I just did."

Bradley also spoke passionately about gun control legislation, denouncing the House of Representatives for their failure to produce a bill on gun control, saying it was "insulting" to the American people: "What strikes me is how modest everybody has been on this issue... .there is a kind of hypocrisy here that is cloying ".

Bradley also criticized Bush for his failure to support a Hate Crimes Law in Texas, saying outright that Bush turned it down because he didn't like sexual orientation being part of the bill. Bradley said if he's the nominee, he will make this a crucial issue during the general election. "Compassionate Conservatism?" he wondered. "I want to take this issue right at him".

And he danced well. When a dapperly dressed older gentleman asked him how in god's name could he vote for the (Nicaraguan) Contras in 1986, Bradley admitted that he never felt that the information he was given on the Intelligence Committee was thorough, that he had voted against it in its earlier incarnations, but that he thought it was the right thing to do. "It proved to be ultimately something that didn't produce what people said it was going to produce". The answer didn't really satisfy anybody, but he seemed to be at such pains in describing it that nobody really minded.

During his stay in California, Bradley made appearances before environmentalists, union workers, social service providers, and gay and lesbian advocates. Those appearances, as well as his stances on race, show he is clearly running to the left of Gore in the primaries.

And California is important. The presidential primary has been bumped up to "Super Tuesday," March 7th of next year. 432 delegates --10 percent of the county's total -- will be up for grabs in California on that date, coming right after the New Hampshire primary.

Bill Bradley plans on being viable at that time. It would be foolish for anyone -- yeah, even the Washington pundits -- to count him out right now.