Gore pledges to play clean, then takes a shot at opponent

Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore says it’s time to put the brakes on negative campaigning — but during a conference call with Iowa reporters Gore still took a jab at his opponent, Bill Bradley. Gore and Bradley have been verbally sparring lately on a variety of fronts — yesterday Bradley questioned Gore’s committment to the fight against tobacco.Gore was asked about a Gore campaign memo which assailed several of Bradley’s votes on rural health care initiatives. He says Bradley has been on the other side of the vote when it comes to supporting rural health care.Gore says he has fought to get equity for rural hospitals which are re-imbursed by Medicare and Medicaid at a lower rate than urban hospitals.Gore, however, couldn’t resist one dig at his opponent. He says Bradley opposed a measure to reduce a tax cut to the wealthy to give more money to rural hospitals and was the only Democrat to do so.Bradley campaign spokesmen have not responded, yet, to an interview request on the subject.