Clinton Endorses, Praises Gore

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) _ President Clinton praised Al Gore Saturday to Florida Democrats as instrumental in the success of their administration and the vice president returned the praise in a separate speech to the group later in the day.

Both spoke kindly of Bill Bradley, Gore’s rival for the Democratic nomination, who missed an afternoon of campaigning Friday because of an irregular heartbeat. The president said Bradley should be fine and Gore called him a ``great competitor.″

The importance of Florida in Bradley’s challenge was highlighted earlier in the day when Gore stopped in Atlanta to launch a major initiative to keep his lead among potential black voters, announcing the endorsement of several black leaders and elected officials.

Flanked by black officials from throughout the South, Gore said he was ``proud of what we have done together in the South, but we need to go further.″

Gore plans events for black supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles and a campaign release said that more than 2,000 black leaders had endorsed Gore for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Florida speeches were most notable for Clinton and Gore closing ranks after months in which Gore has been distancing himself politically from the president. And Clinton made clear Saturday how strongly he supports Gore.

Explaining that he could not speak as loudly as usual because of a raspy throat, Clinton asked the crowd of about 1,000 to listen carefully.

``Because this is from the heart,″ Clinton said, as he began listing the ways he said Gore has been instrumental to the economic success and social progress Clinton claims for their administration.

``From his vote to break the tie on the ’93 budget _ which is what gave us the ability to balance the budget, got interest rates down, got the economy going,″ Clinton began, ``...to supporting every tough decision I have had to make as president, from guns and tobacco, to Bosnia and Kosovo, I can tell you that in the history of the country, he is the most effective and influential vice president who has ever served.″

Later in the day, Gore thanked Florida for backing the Democrats in the 1996 presidential election and praised Clinton for his leadership in general and especially on the economy.

Gore has pointedly distanced himself from his official role as vice president of late, and symbolically distanced himself from Clinton. Gore barely mentions the president in stump speeches, and the two rarely appear together.

But Gore made clear in an interview with several reporters Friday night that he’s going to be focusing more on the country’s strong economic successes and who has the experience to keep that success going. That discussion will inevitably center on what Clinton and Gore together have done with the economy.

The vice president said he was glad to hear that Bradley was back on the campaign trail after problems with an irregular heartbeat Friday and he looked forward to continuing their debate on the issues with a ``great competitor.″

Bradley told reporters in Palo Alto, Calif., on Saturday that his irregular heartbeat is ``just a nuisance″ and dismissed any concern about his ability to campaign. He planned to speak to the Florida Democrats Sunday.

Gore spent much of his 45-minute address to the group recalling that Florida has been good to the Clinton-Gore team in recent years, voting for them in 1996 even though the state has been trending Republican.

``Florida was there for President Bill Clinton and me in 1996,″ Gore said. ``We carried the state in large part because of the kind of Democratic Party that was built by a close friend of yours and mine, a man who died one year ago ... Lawton Chiles.″

The folksy and popular Chiles died a year ago Sunday, just a few weeks short of finishing his last term as governor.