The lead of the US vice-president over former senator Mr Bill Bradley in their bid for the Democratic nomination has dramatically narrowed, according to the latest poll, but Mr Al Gore is now certain to be endorsed by the labour movement.
After intense lobbying by President Clinton and Mr Gore, the AFL-CIO federation of labour unions is expected today to endorse the vice-president's campaign for the Democratic nomination in next year's presidential election. This will be a big disappointment for Mr Bradley, who has also been wooing the labour unions and appealing to them to postpone a decision on endorsement until next year.
However, Mr Bradley has received a strong boost from the latest Gallup poll for CNN/USA Today, which shows him narrowing Mr Gore's lead for the Democratic nomination by two-thirds over the past month. Among Democrats, the preference for Mr Gore has fallen from 63 per cent to 51 per cent; for Mr Bradley it has risen from 30 per cent to 39 per cent.
This is especially disappointing for Mr Gore who has recently sha ken up his campaign, moved his headquarters to Nashville, Tennessee, and cultivated a more folksy image to distance himself from the Washington insider image. The latest poll also shows that 43 per cent say they are "tired of anyone or anything associated with Bill Clinton".
The poll confirms Governor George Bush's huge lead in the race for the Republican nomination. Mr Bush is backed by 60 per cent of Republicans and his nearest rival is Mrs Elizabeth Dole at 11 per cent.
The findings also indicate that Mr Bush would defeat either Mr Gore or Mr Bradley in the presidential election but the latter is now only 12 points behind Mr Bush while Mr Gore is 16 points behind.
It is the poor performance of Mr Gore in the polls which made trade union leaders reluctant to back him against Mr Bradley at this early stage with the first primaries still three months away. However, this week the AFL-CIO convention in Los Angeles, representing 13 million members, will endorse Mr Gore according to its president, Mr John Sweeney.
Mr Sweeney, who is a strong supporter of Mr Gore, is confident that there will be the necessary two-thirds majority for the vice-president when the vote is taken today. Some of the large unions such as the Teamsters will continue to hold off endorsing a Democratic candidate until the situation between Mr Gore and Mr Bradley becomes clearer. The Teamsters are particularly concerned about the opening of the southern US border to Mexican trucks from next January under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mr Clinton made a special effort to win over the Teamsters when he appeared at a dinner last week honouring the union's new president, Mr Jimmy Hoffa.
The AFL-CIO endorsement of Mr Gore does not commit all the members to support him in the election campaign but it should mean valuable help in canvassing and work at grassroots level.
The US Senate yesterday resumed debate on a global treaty banning nuclear testing, with the Republican leadership continuing a high-stakes game of brinkmanship with Mr Clinton. Mr Clinton has asked them to postpone a vote on ratification.
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was believed to have fewer than 50 supporters in the Senate, mostly Democrats, making it all but certain that a ratification vote, requiring a two-thirds majority and scheduled for later yesterday or today, would fail.
Mr Clinton has made nuclear non-proliferation a principal foreign policy goal.