When I read the opening sentence of this article, I thought it was a joke written by Ott over at Scrappleface.
Dean plans return to 'who I really am'
By Jill Lawrence and Susan Page, USA TODAY
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean said Wednesday he is going back to "who I really am" in a nomination contest now dominated by John Kerry.
With the New Hampshire primary five days away, the USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll tracking daily movement of the candidates showed Kerry, the Massachusetts senator, only 2 points behind Dean, the former governor of Vermont. That's a statistical tie.
Kerry, who won an upset victory Monday night in the Iowa caucuses, once trailed Dean here by 25 points.
Kerry said he is making no significant changes in his strategy. He doesn't plan to mention his Democratic rivals by name unless questioned about issues on which they differ.
"People want us to talk about our vision for the country and not about each other," Kerry said in an interview.
Dean placed a disappointing third in Iowa and then reinforced the perception that he is the "angry" candidate with a frenzied speech to supporters. In an interview, he suggested the Iowa campaign had gone off-course because of "incessant ... pounding" from rivals.
Dean said he would "hark back to the real values of the campaign" here — his experience as governor, his record of balancing budgets and providing health care to nearly all children in his state, and his willingness to stand up to President Bush on issues such as tax cuts and the war in Iraq.
"It's who I was as governor for 12 years," he said. "I might as well go back to being who I really am."
The candidates gather today for their one debate in the state. Dean said most debates are not important but "this one is. A lot of people are going to be really focused on it."
The trajectories of the two candidates were reflected in their appearances Wednesday. Kerry seemed happy and energized as he spoke to an overflow crowd at a college auditorium in Nashua. He said he would overturn Bush rules that prevent Medicare from negotiating for lower prescription-drug costs and repeal the ban on reimporting cheaper drugs from Canada.
Dean was fighting a cold as he talked to his staff and volunteers about curbing the influence of money in politics at his headquarters here. He said he would offer public financing to congressional as well as presidential candidates and cap individual contributions at $250 instead of the current $2,000.
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