Going For Broke

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California holds dangers all its own, mainly its potential virtually to bankrupt either side. Neither camp has much organization on the ground there, where it takes a lot of money to build one--as much as $10 million, according to political consultant Bill Carrick. Bradley's senior adviser there, Gale Kaufman, is trying to construct one that deploys volunteers, using e-mail to rally supporters and keep the momentum building, and offsets Gore's advantage of having the labor unions.

Last week Bradley announced he would have $20 million in his war chest as of Feb. 1; the Gore camp claims a similar figure for itself. That will be crucial for a state like California, in which it takes at least $1 million a week to reach television viewers five times in the state's four major markets. "Ten million dollars is not a helluva lot of money out here," says California Democratic Governor Gray Davis' top political strategist, Garry South. Davis' gubernatorial campaign spent $1 million just in the last 48 hours of its race. Bradley has already spent considerable time on the coast throughout the fall--and among Democrats, Gore still leads him better than 2 to 1.