October 14, 1999
Web posted at: 5:35 p.m. EDT (2135 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Al Gore will run the first commercial of the 2000 Democratic presidential campaign Thursday night, criticizing Senate Republicans for rejecting the nuclear test ban treaty.

The commercial, which aides said was written by Gore, shows the vice president talking at length about the treaty rejected Wednesday night by the Senate. "Unless we get this one right, nothing else matters," the vice president says.

Gore has begun using a "stand and fight" theme to attack his challenger, former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, noting that Bradley retired from the Senate in 1997. By criticizing Senate Republicans for rejecting the treaty, Gore also hopes to reinforce that theme, campaign aides said.

In addition, the spot outlines a key difference between Bush and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican presidential front-runner. Bush opposes the treaty.

"I believe campaigns should be about the future and there's no more important issue than stopping the spread of nuclear weapons," Gore states in the spot.

The commercial began running Thursday night on national networks and on local stations in the key early states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Thursday, October 14, 1999

• Des Moines Register: Iowa caucuses moved to January 24, 2000
• Senators fling charges as campaign finance debate opens
• Clinton assails GOP's 'new isolationism'
• Gore airs first commercial of Democratic presidential campaign
• Des Moines Register: Buchanan closing Iowa office
• First family refinances New York home
• White House says "toxic brew" killed test ban treaty
• Spotlight on key races in 2000
• Hillary Clinton voices support for electronic disease surveillance
• Starr reportedly to step down as independent counsel
• House moves to create new truck safety agency
• Senators resolve dispute over Waco inquiry, start investigation
• Court blocks South Carolina video gambling referendum
• House committee targets funds for poor, defeats vouchers
• House GOP may force vote on Clinton tax increases
• Republicans want gay rights measure out of spending bill
• White House unhappy with House-Senate deal on Interior programs
• Clinton expected to sign record farm bailout
• Babbitt, now cleared, decries casino investigation

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