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Bush, McCain, Gore, Bradley battle anew in final weekend before Super Tuesday

NEW YORK: An upbeat Bill Bradley brushed aside long odds facing his campaign and spoke of "a world of possibilities guided by goodness," reminding people that another Missouri native, Harry Truman, defied the polls to win an election more than 50 years ago.

Bradley entered the final weekend before the Super Tuesday primaries behind in the delegate count, trailing in polls and no longer considered a threat to his Democratic presidential rival, Vice President Al Gore.

Meanwhile, George W. Bush charged John McCain with "clouded" education views on Saturday.

McCain asked "where's the outrage?" over a late surge of money to pay for negative TV ads, as the two Republicans battled.

In the weekend before Tuesday's 13-state Republican primaries, Bush campaigned in New York while McCain started in New England, the geography highlighting the presidential contenders' different strategies as they seek their share of the 613 delegates up for grabs.

Bush spoke about education policy as he visited Rochester and Binghamton, New York, in a quest for the state's 101 convention delegates.

That bounty is second only to the 162 at stake in California, where Bush leads McCain among Republicans.

Polls show McCain leading Bush in some New England states, so the Arizona senator started his day in Boston before flying to an event in Portland, Maine. Polls indicate a tight race in New York and McCain was also making stops in Syracuse and Rochester.

In Sunday editions, The New York Times endorsed McCain as a candidate "who has the potential to prolong a healthy battle for the soul" of the Republican party. The New York Daily News also endorsed McCain on Sunday.

McCain aides also have their eye on California, where he's been 20 points behind among Republicans in the polls and they concede the senator must make a strong showing Ñ at least in the overall vote Ñ to keep his candidacy viable.

"I don't know if it's decisive or not. I know it's a critical period," McCain said of Tuesday's vote.

In New York, the education ad will run concurrently with a controversial ad that accused McCain of being opposed to breast cancer research.

"They know no depths," McCain said of the latest Bush ad. "There's no shame associated with the (Bush) campaign."

The Bush campaign has been running the breast cancer ad arguing that McCain voted against research on the disease, while McCain says he has repeatedly voted to boost breast cancer research spending. The vote cited in the Bush ad was one where McCain opposed putting breast cancer money in a military spending measure.

On another front, two Texas brothers and prominent Bush supporters, Sam and Charles Wyly, were spending dollars 2.5 million on ads attacking McCain's environmental record, but Bush denied any connection or prior knowledge of the ads.

"The implications of this go well beyond a McCain candidacy," said McCain of the last-minute ad blitz. "It's wrong and it's sleazy."

Among the Democrats, Gore looked like he was making his last stand.

"You know Harry Truman. They said he was finished in 1948, he didn't have a chance," Bradley said. "And you know that happened there. He came from behind and won."

Whether by accident or by design, Bradley campaigned on Saturday in two states crucial to his life story Ñ Missouri, where he was born and raised, and New York, where he became a professional basketball star with the Knicks and learned both how to win and how to lose.

Gore, meanwhile, campaigned in Massachusetts and New York. He dropped by Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe in Boston for blueberry pancakes, escorted by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who called Gore "Strong Economy."

All references to Bradley long gone from Gore's speeches, he turned his fire on Republican presidential contenders McCain and Bush.

Gore said Tuesday's votes in 15 Democratic primary states "will be the decisive moment."

The New York Times endorsed Gore in Sunday editions, saying he has "a burning desire to stepout of his mentor's shadow and prove that he possesses the self control and presidential high-mindedness so lacking in Clinton." The Kansas City Star and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch endorsed Bradley in weekend editions.