So if they agree, what, exactly, did West do?

He "energizes the Senator before big events and debates." He helps him by "pumping him up" and serves as a "friend to rely on," Galper said.

But Bradley readily accepted West as an adviser for a more pragmatic reason: to help lure black voters away from Al Gore '69.

Though his advisers would not admit so publicly, media reporters have pegged West's high-profile role in the campaign as linked to Bradley's get-out-the-vote efforts among minorities.

Bradley aide Galper would only say, "People of all races see West as a role model and he has been an invaluable asset to the campaign."

West did not respond to more than half a dozen requests for an interview this week and last--though an assistant begged his pardon, noting that his schedule has been rather intense of late. (West has been on a nationwide book tour and is recovering from an operation.)

Staff for the vice president were less circumspect about the relationship between their candidate, and another high-profile black intellectual at Harvard, Henry Louis "Skip" Gates.