Trying to find substantive differences between the two candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley and Vice President Al Gore '69, is not easy. Democratic voters heading to the polls in New Hampshire next Tuesday and across the country in the coming months have a choice between two tall, balding, politically moderate, Ivy-educated white men. The two had essentially identical voting records in their time in the Senate together, and their positions on the vast majority of issues are indistinguishable. Both support abortion rights; both are environmentalists; both support free trade. Both support campaign finance reform and gun control. And, in line with the post-Bill Clinton orthodoxy of the "new" Democratic Party, both support the death penalty and oppose gay marriage.

Given their similarities, it is little surprise the Democratic race to this point has been so heavily dominated by discussion of the two candidates' image and "electability." But this is unfortunate. On two of the most important issues facing the nation in the coming years--health care and education--Bradley and Gore have put forward substantially different proposals. We are confident that between the two, Bradley is the right choice for the Democratic nomination.

Currently, about one in six Americans, including 11 million children, have no health insurance. Bradley's bold $65 billion health care plan would ensure near-universal and affordable coverage. Low- and middle-income families would enjoy subsidized premiums and all families would see a tax break for premiums. Bradley would expand Medicare, adding benefits for non-routine prescription drugs and increasing housing and transportation aid to the elderly.

Bradley's "leave-it-to-individual-communities" approach to public education would allow each school to use federal dollars in the way they saw most efficient and useful. As a senator, he has voted in favor of voucher programs on an experimental basis. Although the merits of vouchers are still inconclusive, Bradley has displayed a willingness to try out new ways of improving our public schools. In addition, recognizing the implications of our current teacher shortage, Bradley has vowed to forgive student loans for 60,000 college students, high-school graduates and mid-career professionals who certify as teachers and commit to serving in poor urban or rural schools.

Beyond health care and education, Bradley has also put forward a bold and intelligent proposal on gun control, calling for mandatory licenses for handgun buyers and supporting a ban on "Saturday night specials."

To voters, Bradley is best known for his outspokenness on campaign finance reform. Certainly, this is refreshing, particularly in an era where political campaigns can be dominated by unlimited inflows of "soft money"--about $250 million in 1996. Bradley would ban soft money to national parties and prohibit state party committees from spending their soft money to influence federal elections. Additionally, Bradley has vowed to increase taxpayer financing of elections and require all broadcasters to give candidates free time. Such moves would help to make federal elections more about ideas and less about money, reinvigorating our currently impoverished level political discourse.

That is not to say we are entirely comfortable with the former senator. Many of the positions he shares with Gore--his support for the death penalty, his opposition to gay marriage--disappoint us. But his refusal to follow all other candidates, Democratic and Republican, in supporting the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to teach creationism is encouraging, as is his unique refusal to discuss his private religious faith publicly. On balance we feel that he is the best candidate for the Democrats.

In the Republican primary, we choose former Arizona senator John S. McCain without reservation. While we naturally disagree with many of his conservative social positions, he is hands down the most impressive candidate that the GOP has fielded in the past ten years.