Sources: Bill Bradley to endorse Howard Dean
DES MOINES (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, who lost the Democratic nomination for president to Al Gore in 2000, is expected to endorse front-runner Howard Dean, party officials said Monday.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Dean and Bradley planned to announce the endorsement this week. (Related story: Dean draws fire from Dems in Iowa)
Dean has changed his campaign schedule to appear Tuesday in New Hampshire for a surprise announcement, state campaign director Karen Hicks said Monday. Campaigning in Iowa, Dean said he could neither confirm nor deny the report.
Bradley gave Gore a scare early in the 2000 primary process but eventually lost both the Iowa caucuses and the follow-up New Hampshire primary to the sitting vice president.
Bradley was a favorite of higher-educated, higher-income Democrats, according to party polls, a constituency that has leaned toward Dean in this year's contest.
The endorsement is further evidence of Dean's transformation from a political asterisk 12 months ago to the party's leading candidate. Dean secured Gore's endorsement last month and already leads in fund raising and in most state and national polls.
Bradley, 60, served three terms as senator from New Jersey, from 1979 to 1996. He was a Rhodes Scholar and an All-American basketball player at Princeton and later a star with the New York Knicks. |
