-Caveat Lector- From http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/Observer/Story/0,3879,48806,0 0.html Jordan to slam dunk boring Gore Basketball stars shoot for presidential nomination By Ed Vulliamy in New York Sunday May 9, 1999 Already they're calling it the 'basketball election'. Michael Jordan, wizard of the slam dunk, is considering a role as front man in a campaign to dislodge Vice-President Al Gore from the Democratic presidential nomination he regards as his right. There are reports that Jordan has already given $1,000 to the war chest of former basketball pro Bill Bradley. If so he would join a host of other basketball stars who have piled in behind him. Bradley played for the New York Knicks team in the 1970s. Now the team mates who helped him win two NBA championship medals are falling in line to speak at fundraisers, among them Phil Jackson. Jackson was Bradley's room mate on tour with the Knicks and became the most celebrated and successful coach in the game - the man who took the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships, the unchallenged zenith of basketball, before retiring last year. Jackson is the only man in the world with any sway over Michael Jordan - when Jackson quit after winning the Bulls their third consecutive championship, Jordan caused a stir by following suit - saying that he would only r eturn to the Bulls if his coach came back, too. There was an almighty row that went something like this: does a manager choose a team or vice versa? On his way into politics, Bradley kept his basketball career in the background, preferring to emphasise his Rhodes scholarship. But now that Bill Clinton has turned the US presidency into a pop celebrity cult, Bradley has , as he puts it, 'loosened up'. He is using the Clintonian postures of pop politics to challenge Clinton's man. The reason for the Bradley challenge - and for many Democrats supporting him with millions of dollars - is that the polls suggest the unthinkable: Al Gore could lose to the Republicans. For weeks the polls have shown Gore trailing Texas Governor George Bush Jr, and even sometimes Bush's challenger, Elizabeth Dole. Women - Clinton's bedrock of support - are the problem: they don't like Gore. It is as thou gh Gore, the Washington insider, was stuck with the job of treating the sewage of the Clinton Administration without the charm, charisma or luck to overcome the stench. By playing it safe, Gore has managed to make few enemies, and few friends. He was loyal to the President, but without too much conviction in case things went horribly wrong. He was not right-wing enough for the Right, but in courting them he lost his environmentalist support on the left. Enter Bradley, a flash-in-the-pan. There are no other contenders. For 11 months it will be one-on-one, as they say in basketball. As a player, Bradley was well known for his positioning, his quick-footedness off the ball. And he seems to have maintained this skill. Bradley is thus able to wander the farms of Iowa and the flats of Florida sounding rather like Bill Clinton did in 1991 - assailing poverty and low standards in schools. He cou nters questions about his limited political experience with answers about 'my life experience'. There is the added advantage of Mrs Bradley - or Professor Ernestine Misslebeck Schlant - a woman of high calibre who provides a startling contrast to her opposite number, Tipper Gore. Professor Schlant is a sharply dress ed don of literature who has survived breast cancer and speaks five languages. On Bradley's other arm is Bulls coach Jackson, who called Bradley 'something real special' while smooching with the AFL-CIO union conglomerates in Florida. Jackson stumped for him at a college in Crete, Nebraska, explaini ng 'I'm recognisable to young people who may not know who Bill Bradley is', before quoting Harry Truman in one breath, then telling the kids how he dealt with wild man Dennis Rodman in the next. On the other side of the court, defending his political hoop, is George W. Bush - or just plain 'W'. Although he has yet to declare his candidacy, Bush is a clear front-runner. A 'conservative with a conscience', 'W' can stand for wishy-washy or wise, depending on who you are. He insists that he is cast in a different mould from Dad, but has signed up many of his father's staff. Navigating a centre line, 'W' has the advantage of being a Republican who is for things rather than just against whatever President Clinton does; he has a way of being an avid free-marketeer who is also preoccupied with ' social promotion' for the working class. Bush's opposition is slight: Liddy Dole draws big crowds but would find it harder to raise big money than her husband's Viagra-enhanced assets. The billionaire-nerd Steve Forbes has the funds, but is too extra-terrestrial for mainstream voters. Dan Quayle put his foot in it as usual the other day, saying he hoped Clinton would not use the Littleton disaster as an excuse to attack gun-owners. Only John McCain presents a threat, the Kosovo hawk trying to rediscove r - without much success - the lazy, insular Republican Party's old Reaganite, world-leadership soul. Not all is rosy in the Bush camp, however. There are skeletons in the closet, which can make a man vulnerable in the current climate. Down in Texas there is trouble over budgets and the cost of his 'social promotion' wish list, with an attempt to ride on both the tax cut and education bandwagons. But Bush has the support of the governors and last week won solid backing from the party in the House. Bush's standing with the Republican apparatus is as assured as that of Gore with the Democratic machine on the other side. But as a former member of the Democratic National Committee who left, disillusioned, in 1996 put it: 'It's pretty simple if they'd only stop to think about it. Put Michael on the ticket on a programme of exhibition games on the South Lawn - no problems.' 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