Rivals Spar on Make-or-Break Day of Primaries

From New York to California, the presidential hopefuls delivered their final pleas Monday, targeting the two biggest states with the largest say in setting the field for November.

On the eve of today’s coast-to-coast sweepstakes, a last round of opinion surveys boded well for the front-runners, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush. The two stumped on opposite ends of the country, increasingly confident they will face each other in the fall campaign.

Their respective rivals, Democrat Bill Bradley and Republican John McCain, held out the prospect of a surprise. McCain noted how often events in this squirrelly campaign season have defied the pollsters and pundits.

“There has not been a primary yet that has met expectations,” the senator from Arizona said at a morning rally in Santa Clara, exaggerating somewhat. “It’s just too volatile.”

In California, the day’s most coveted prize, polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters will cast ballots in a “blanket” primary, meaning they are free to choose whomever they like, regardless of party affiliation.

But only votes cast by party members--Democrats for Democrats, Republicans for Republicans--will count toward allocation of delegates, and winning delegates is what today’s contests are all about.

The blizzard of balloting makes it the biggest day of the primary season; indeed, the biggest day in the history of presidential primaries, a result of so many states cramming so close to the front of the calendar to increase their say in the nominating process.

In effect, today amounts to a national primary--one that could end the two major party nominating fights just six weeks after the contests began in Iowa. On the Democratic side, 15 states and American Samoa will award 1,315 delegates. Republicans in 13 states will cast ballots with 613 delegates at stake. Both numbers represent more than half the delegates needed for nomination.

Along with megastates New York and California, voters in Ohio, Missouri, Georgia, Minnesota and five New England states will weigh in, among others. With Gore threatening a 15-state sweep, Democrats appear ready to validate the vice president’s measured approach to issues like health care reform and gun control, rejecting the more sweeping “big ideas” philosophy of former Sen. Bradley of New Jersey.

An Epic GOP Fight

For Republicans, the Bush-McCain contest has amounted to an epic fight for the future of the party, something unseen for a generation. Former U.N. ambassador Alan Keyes is also seeking the GOP nomination.

In an unlikely reversal, given where their campaigns started, Bush has emerged as the preservationist, rallying the Christian right and other reliable Republican constituencies around an agenda of tax cuts and an assertively conservative stance on social issues.

McCain, a down-the-line conservative throughout his 17 years in Congress, has glossed over ideology and attacked leaders of the religious right in an effort to forge “a new Republican Party,” with cross-over appeal to reform-minded Democrats and independents.

He has by far the most at stake. McCain needs a strong enough performance to sustain his campaign for at least another week, when six more states go to the polls.

On Monday, McCain traveled down the California coast, from Silicon Valley to a rain-soaked rally at UCLA to an appearance in San Diego’s Old Town. He stepped up his attacks on Bush and the governor’s ties to a Texas businessman behind a controversial TV ad that attacks McCain’s environmental record.

The senator’s campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging the ad amounts to an illegal contribution from businessman Sam Wyly. The Bush campaign brushed aside the complaint, denying any advance knowledge of Wyly’s efforts. “Scurrilous accusations,” said Karen Hughes, a Bush spokeswoman.

His pique evident, McCain sought to turn the ad against Bush. Speaking to an audience of several hundred at Santa Clara University, McCain urged the crowd to reject negative campaigning.

“Tell [Bush’s] sleazy Texas buddies to stop these negative ads and take their money back to Texas where it belongs,” McCain said. “Don’t try to corrupt American politics with your money, because American politics is far better than that, and it deserves better than what we’re getting.”

McCain also sharply assailed Bush for a second television ad running in New York, which criticizes McCain’s record on breast cancer. An activist who appears in the ad expressed her regrets in an interview published Monday in Newsday.

Fighting to keep his insurgency alive, McCain backed off statements that he had to carry California to sustain his campaign. He insisted there were too many “permutations” to consider. The senator hopes a victory in the overall popular vote could offset a loss of all 162 California delegates, bolstering McCain’s assertion that he would be more likely to carry the state in November.

Regardless, McCain signaled his intention to keep campaigning by plunking down $200,000 for television ads in Colorado, which holds its Republican primary Friday.

Bush, campaigning as if the nomination were already decided, continued his efforts to reach out to moderate voters he will need to win the White House in November.

Returning to his “compassionate conservative” agenda, Bush began with a stop at San Diego’s Balboa Park, where he discussed education at a rally featuring a Latin-flavored soundtrack and bilingual introduction. He then continued to the Simon Wiesenthal Center in West Los Angeles, where he toured the Museum of Tolerance.

Asked in San Diego about the nasty tone of the Republican race, Bush downplayed his rift with McCain. “I don’t think the fracture is much of a fracture,” he said, expressing confidence the GOP “can unite after the primary.”

Bush went on to muse over how the fight has been good for him as a candidate and how he has learned from the humbling lessons of losing a few elections. “It’s good for people to know I can battle back,” Bush said. “They knew about my record. They didn’t know about my inner strength. They do know now.”

His appearance at the Wiesenthal Center, a routine candidate stop, assumed particular significance in light of Bush’s visit to Bob Jones University, a fundamentalist Christian school that until Friday banned interracial dating.

Speaking to reporters, Bush said the center “reminds us about the ravages of bigotry. . . . It reminds us of bravery. It reminds us we’re all God’s children.” Later, at the museum, Bush spoke of the need for tolerance, saying it “can never be assumed, and it always must be taught.”

“We must teach our children to respect people from all walks of life,” Bush said in his short address, which was briefly interrupted by a heckler demanding: “What about gay people?”

“We must teach our children to respect people whose skin is of a different color,” Bush continued, unfazed. “We must teach our children to respect those whose ancestry or religion may be different from their own.”

Afterward, on a lighter note, Bush taped “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.” He joined the host in spoofing Bush’s now-famous failure to name foreign leaders in a TV pop quiz. Then Bush concluded his campaigning with a rally in Long Beach.

Across the country, Gore campaigned with the same air of assuredness, his eyes firmly fixed on November.

Visiting the Lutheran Medical Center along the Brooklyn waterfront, Gore criticized Bush’s health care record in Texas. He spoke to nurses, doctors and other medical personnel in an auditorium.

“You may be interested in this, in light of some of the advertisements being paid for by special interests,” the vice president said, referring to Bush’s spots attacking McCain’s record on breast cancer research.

“Under his leadership,” Gore said, “the state of Texas now ranks 49th in health insurance for children. And health insurance for women? Fiftieth. . . . That includes health insurance for women suffering from breast cancer or any other diseases that require health insurance. Fifty out of 50. That’s dead last.”

Gore Courts New York

Gore also courted two vital New York constituencies: Jewish leaders and members of the city’s gay and lesbian community.

Appearing before the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, the vice president was exceedingly careful about whether the United States should move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He held to the State Department formulation that the matter should be decided in the Middle East peace talks--but said he would follow the wishes of Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s government.

Bradley, meantime, kept an upbeat tone despite the long odds he faces, telling voters they could send a message by voting with their hearts.

In a day packed with appearances, Bradley started off greeting morning commuters leaving the Staten Island Ferry, then spoke to students and parents at a Bronx high school. In the afternoon, he addressed supporters in White Plains and Brooklyn, then ended with a get-out-the-vote rally in Manhattan’s Bryant Park. “The polls show we’re behind,” he repeatedly told audiences. “But I think we’re going to surprise some people on Tuesday.”

Still, a certain wistfulness shrouded the campaign. A large sign on Gray’s Papaya hot dog stand in Greenwich Village read: “We love you Bill Bradley! Our next president.” And underneath, in smaller letters: “(Please God)”

Meanwhile, aides dismissed talk Bradley will soon quit the race. “The only thing the campaign and the candidate are doing is focusing on Tuesday and doing as well as we can,” said spokesman Eric Hauser.

Times staff writers James Gerstenzang, Maria L. La Ganga and T. Christian Miller contributed to this story.

* GOP’S $10-MILLION MAN

Sen. John McCain received $10 million in individual contributions last month. A16.