The George W. Bush Years

In January 1999, Bill Bradley, the former senator from New Jersey, announced he was seeking to become the Democratic party’s candidate for the office of President of the United States. It was a tough decision because he was getting into the contest fairly late, and he was challenging Al Gore, an established favorite, who had been a loyal vice-president under Bill Clinton for the previous eight years.

Bradley was a progressive alternative to Gore and promoted gun control, universal health care and campaign finance reform. He started with a significant lead in the polls in New Hampshire, but Gore had a stronger organization in Iowa and soundly defeated Bradley in the caucuses. With that defeat, Bradley faded in New Hampshire and ended up losing the primary there. He kept campaigning through Super Tuesday but never regained the momentum of his early campaign. He dropped out after Super Tuesday and endorsed Gore.

The poster reflected an image that Bradley tried to get across during his campaign. He felt that Gore had been involved in politics for his whole career without being exposed to influences outside of Washington, D.C. Bradley, on the other hand, was an athletic and academic standout at Princeton, and a Rhodes scholar before becoming a professional basketball player. He also won an Olympic Gold medal in Tokyo in 1964. After finishing his career with the New York Knicks, he ended up in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Although he spent eighteen years in the U.S. Senate, he wanted to highlight his experiences outside the Washington Beltway. I got this poster at one of the first Bradley rallies I covered in Iowa.

Currently, Bradley hosts a weekly award-winning radio program on Sirius Satellite Radio called American Voices.