Bill Bradley looked to be on a roll last November. He had a double-digit lead against Al Gore '69 in New Hampshire, was raking in campaign dollars across the rest of the country, and was causing Gore to change his campaign strategy. The vice-president acknowledged, for the first time, that he had competition for the Democratic nomination.

Would a sitting vice president seeking his party's nomination might be denied for the first time in American history?

But going in to today's Democratic primaries and caucuses, Bradley trails Gore in just about every demographic in just about every state in the country.

Though most Democratic observers concede that his candidate is in its twilight, Bradley has made a conscientious effort to keep focused on a core group of issues, including health care, campaign finance reform, race relations, and education.

He appeals to the party's liberal wing--garnering the solid endorsement of Harvard's liberal monthly, the Perspective.

Bradley has spent most of his campaigning propounding and defending his plan to provide universal health care coverage. Under the plan proposed by Bradley, the 44 million Americans without health care would be able to enroll in the health care plan that covers federal employees. Tax subsidies, the amounts of which would vary by income, would be provided to uninsured individuals to cover the program's premium.

This system would eventually replace the Medicaid system that currently provides insurance to the poor. Medicare, the insurance system for the elderly, would be maintained under Bradley's plan and expanded to provide prescription drug benefits.

Bradley's proposal to replace the Medicare system has come under strong attack from Gore. Gore says that Bradley's plan will hurt the poor, because the replacement would provide too low of a subsidy to individuals to buy insurance. Bradley strongly denies this and attacks Gore for proposing a system which does not include universal health care.