With the roller-coaster contest for the Republican nomination between John McCain and George W. Bush gripping the country, it's tough to be a Democratic candidate.

But in case you had forgotten, Vice-President Al Gore and former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley are campaigning for the Democratic nomination. This week they tussled in New York in what has been called "the most brutal presidential debate of the year."

Unfortunately for them, the attention of the nation was on Michigan, where McCain rebounded from his defeat in South Carolina to overpower Bush with the help of independents and even Democrats.

Poor Bradley badly needs these kind of floating voters as he sinks daily in the polls coming up to "Titanic Tuesday" on March 7th when he risks being wiped out by an increasingly confident Gore in the 15 primaries on that day.

What is happening to Bradley must be every politician's nightmare.

Six weeks ago, he was all the rage as his relaxed but well-financed campaign was making Gore look fumbling and uncertain. Then Gore hit his stride and trounced a too-laid-back Bradley in the Iowa caucuses.

New Hampshire was a tougher contest as Bradley appealed to the large number of independents while Gore depended on the Democratic establishment and the efforts of the labour unions. Bradley lost narrowly to Gore, but his campaign had more money to spend in the next series of primaries so he was poised to make a real fight.

Then everything went wrong. Bradley's poll ratings plummeted and he practically disappeared from the evening newscasts. The media assigned to his campaign began to feel like outcasts as they trailed after a candidate America seemed to have forgotten.

"I need an event," Bradley said as his motorcade travelled through Connecticut last week. "I should hold up a bank." But such is the focus on the fascinating Republican duel between McCain and Bush that even that might not have made the front page. Bradley did get a mention when his plane had to return to St Louis due to landing-gear trouble.

In a Washington Post article headed "The Man in the Gray Flannel Campaign", Dana Milbank reported that he heard a TV reporter calling his wife from the press bus to complain about his bosses. "I'm in a vacuum. It's a waste of time," he said.

"They don't have any interest at all. We're goin' to have to come back with some naked pictures or something to get on TV."

Well, Bradley did get on TV last Monday for an hour and a half in a debate with Al Gore in the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York, before a mainly African-American audience. It was a new Bradley compared to the man who earlier in his campaign refused to criticise Gore, even when questioners gave him easy opportunities.

As the audience roared and booed, the two men tore into each other's record. At times the moderator could not be heard and some amazed observers compared it to a prize fight.

Bradley's spokesman had primed reporters beforehand, saying his man was going to be aggressive. "We're loaded for bear and we're going to go get it."

Gore, known as a mean fighter, gave as good as he got. "By all means, Bill, get the negativity off your chest. But then when you get through, let's return to face the real problems that we're facing in this country," Gore retorted after being attacked on his record on gun control. Bradley accused him of performing the "Gore Dance" of waltzing around the subject to conceal his real record.

However, Gore got loud applause when Bradley called for a special prosecutor to investigate fundraising abuses in the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign and Gore shot back: "You must be the only Democrat in America who misses Ken Starr."

The problem for Bradley is that he began his campaign promising to discuss only issues and not descend to personal attacks. Now he has to hit back at Gore, who has, according to Bradley, misrepresented his policies on reform of healthcare.

Bradley at first ignored Gore's negative TV adverts, but this has proved to be a costly mistake. Where Bradley was ahead in the polls in states like New York and California, he is now trailing badly. He has said he would support Gore if the Vice-President gets the nomination and he is being urged by some senior Democrats to step down soon before he damages the party's prospects next November.

Another problem which has affected Bradley more than Gore is the five-week gap for the Democrats between the New Hampshire primary and Titanic Tuesday. Bush and McCain have been in a running duel in the Republican primaries during this time and making the news.

Bradley, badly needing a boost, has flown to Washington state in the north-west this weekend where he appeals to the strong liberal tradition in Seattle and other cities and where he hopes to do well in the non-binding Democratic primary or "beauty contest" next Tuesday. But McCain, fresh from his wins in Michigan and Arizona, flew in at the same time for the Republican primary.

Guess who got the headlines?