Round 5

The debate, moderated by the dapper and thespianic Peter Jennings of ABC News, was held at the Johnson Theater at UNH, a land-grant university of 10,500 students, tucked at a triangle's corner from both Portland, Maine, and Boston, Mass.

To be sure, neither candidate needed a map to find the campus. Since last spring, both Bradley and Gore have spent upwards of a month apiece in the first-in-the-nation primary state, where the candidates are neck and neck.

The most recent poll, conducted by the American Research Group and conducted from Dec. 29 until Dec. 31, had Bradley barely edging Gore, 42 percent to 39 percent. But Bradley's numbers have been sinking -- down from 48 percent just two weeks ago -- and Gore's have been slowly rising as the Feb. 1 election day approaches.

Thus, Wednesday's debate was just one appearance in a full New England itinerary for both men. On Tuesday, Bradley presented a 10-year plan to eliminate more than $140 billion in corporate tax benefits. That night, he participated in a televised town meeting at New Hampshire's St. Anselm College with CNBC's Chris Matthews.

On Wednesday, Gore had his own larger-than-life burly Irishman on hand, as he received the endorsement of Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., who accompanied the vice president on a New Hampshire campaign swing Wednesday. Kennedy said Gore has "the ability, the vision and the experience to lead this nation wisely and well in the coming years, and I'll be proud to stand with you in the great battles that lie ahead." Thirty years ago, Kennedy stood with another Gore, Gore's father, former Tennessee Sen. Al Gore, who seconded Kennedy's nomination as Senate majority whip.

Wednesday, however, the comfort of Kennedy's ample bosom was replaced by some tough questions from Jennings, along with John DiStaso of the Manchester Union Leader, Alison King of New England Cable News and Jenny Attiyeh of New Hampshire Public Television. When Bradley and Gore sidestepped questions, Jennings, in an entertaining mix of chivalry, toughness and whimsy, would turn to the local reporter and ask if his or her question had been answered satisfactorily. Or he would press the issue himself.

As a result of Jennings' persistence, we can now be assured that future GOP campaign spots will feature both Bradley and Gore proclaiming that anyone either man names to the Joint Chiefs of Staff will need to support a lift on the ban on gays and lesbians openly serving in the military, a fact which was first milked from the two candidates Wednesday night.

Jennings and company also helped produce some lighter moments of the debate, as when Bradley, pressed by Attiyeh with an assist from Jennings, denied that he was the remote Carter-esque exemplar of sanctimony that he sometimes seems.

"Take a look? Am I aloof?" Bradley asked, to audience laughter, pointing out that he'd just held his 46th town meeting in the state. "You can't be aloof in a New Hampshire town meeting."

Both men refused to shy away from the "liberal" label. "I don't think the views I have espoused are a disadvantage for running for president," Bradley argued, saying that gay rights were an issue of "fundamental human decency," and gun control was one of "common sense."

"I don't care what kind of label people apply to those kinds of positions and views," Gore said, outlining similar stances on similar issues.

Jennings then opened the format a bit, allowing the foes an exchange with one another, leading them to inevitable confrontation by asking if either man was offended by a "vote or quote" misrepresentation his opponent had made.

Bradley, saying he had "a deep commitment to the issue of race in this country," said that he was "really offended" by Gore's charge that his health-care plan would "consciously, as part of a policy" hurt African-Americans and Latinos.

But Gore didn't back off, quoting Harry Truman's protest that "I'm not giving him hell, I'm just telling the truth and he thinks it's hell." Bradley's health-care plan, which replaces the hearty Medicaid benefits package with a much smaller one, would disproportionately damage minority communities, Gore charged, since those communities are disproportionately poor and thus more dependent upon Medicaid.

"Look here, in New Hampshire," Gore said, brandishing a cheat-sheet with a chart of health care figures. "Here are a dozen different insurance health plans under the federal employee benefit plan, and not a single one of them can be purchased for anything close to $150 a month," the average subsidy Bradley's plan would provide.

Bradley, with his trademark counter-charge that what Gore's saying "is just not so," replied that a family of four under the New Hampshire postal worker's union plan certainly would be able to purchase the appropriate coverage.

Regardless, "Al is saying all the time it's a $150 cap. It's not a cap. It's a weighted average," Bradley said, "Some places it will be more, some places it will be less."

"What is a weighted average?" Gore joked. "I remember the old story about the man who had his feet on a block of ice and his head in the oven and according to the weighted average, he was really comfortable with it."

"First of all, let me explain to you, Al, how the private sector works, OK?" Bradley jabbed. "If you have 30 million people, you're going to find insurance companies competing to provide the lowest cost service."

Quickly, however, referee Jennings broke up the clinch. Both candidates used their remaining time to answer charges and forward arguments both for themselves against the other man. Bradley said he was "disappointed" by Gore's insistence that his plan to require licensing and registration for the "65 million handguns in this country" was "too difficult to do." Where would the country be, Bradley rhetorically asked, if past leaders like FDR or LBJ had shared Gore's love for pragmatics. "The essence of leadership ... is making it possible," Bradley said.

Gore riposted that Bradley's gun licensing and registration plan "doesn't have a prayer of ever becoming law." "You need to find a way to make the political system work," he said, arguing that Bradley had failed to account for the ardent opposition such a "maximalist" proposal would arouse. "So many people are going to fight tooth and nail [that] kind of maximalist measure."

Gore recast the campaign finance reform challenge he made to Bradley on NBC's "Meet the Press" in which both men would forego television ads and participate in twice-weekly debates. Since Bradley quite credibly argued that as the lesser-known candidate, swearing off such ads made little sense, Gore put it forward again, limiting it to New Hampshire, where Bradley leads in the polls. Calling himself the underdog in the Granite State, Gore said he was "asking people to give me a come-from-behind upset victory."

"Your underdog pitch brings tears to my eyes," Bradley said.

"I hope my upset victory brings tears to your eyes on Feb. 1," Gore returned.

The gloves come off again on Saturday in Iowa.

UNH will host its next debate in a mere matter of hours, when all six Republicans face off on Thursday night.

• View blog reactions