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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sylvester80 who wrote (36542)	1/29/2004 10:43:28 AM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Given the media's poor record in reporting on Dr. Dean, I'm making no snap judgements. Here's what's being said... Dean re-emerges after staff shake-up with new strategy Fresh off a staff shake-up, Howard Dean is returning to the campaign trail, trying to regain his footing with a new strategy focused on the delegate-rich states most likely to determine this year's Democratic presidential nominee. With less than a week before a seven-state blitz of primaries and caucuses, Dean stayed Wednesday in his hometown of Burlington, Vt., to design a new course for his faltering bid for the White House. He replaced his campaign manager with a former Washington lobbyist and one-time top aide to Al Gore and asked his staff to defer their paychecks for two weeks to recover from costly losses in Iowa and New Hampshire. "I think you are going to see a leaner, meaner organization," Dean told reporters Wednesday night. "We had geared up for what we thought would be a front-runner's campaign. It's not going to be a front-runner's campaign. It's going to be a long, long war of attrition." Dean scheduled a rally Thursday at Michigan State University, choosing to re-emerge after his New Hampshire loss in a state that doesn't even vote on Tuesday. But Michigan plays prominently in his new strategy of focusing on states by delegate count, rather than calendar. "We're going to try everywhere, but what we are really looking at is the delegate count," Dean said after announcing that former Gore adviser Roy Neel would take over as chief executive officer of his campaign. Dean does not plan to buy ads in any of the states holding elections Tuesday, putting him at a distinct disadvantage with high-spending rivals John Kerry, John Edwards and Wesley Clark. With his money and momentum depleted, Dean has decided to save his ad money for the Feb. 7 elections in Michigan and Washington state and, 10 days later, those in Wisconsin. Officials who outlined the strategy on condition of anonymity acknowledged that Dean runs the risk of falling off the political map with seven defeats Tuesday. Dean is gambling that he can pick up delegates with second- and third-place finishes while Edwards and Clark spend themselves out of the race. Officials hope that Dean emerges later in February as an alternative to Kerry and engages in "guerrilla warfare" until he wins the nomination or is mathematically eliminated. Dean's backers are dubious. In a conference call with members of Congress who have endorsed him, he was told bluntly that finishing second wasn't good enough -- that he had to show he could win a primary. "He said he understood," said one lawmaker involved in the call. Dean's campaign chairman Steve Grossman also said Wednesday that the candidate must win a presidential primary in the next two weeks to keep even his most loyal donor base -- those giving modest amounts over the Web -- contributing enough to make him financially competitive. Dean had hoped he could ride victories in Iowa and New Hampshire to wins in other states, perhaps effectively wrapping up the nomination by Feb. 3. But now, dwindling resources after losses in the kickoff states are forcing him to bypass some states that vote next Tuesday. Kerry is the two-state champion and is advertising in all seven of the Feb. 3 states. Dean is visiting at least four of the states. Dean media adviser Steve McMahon noted that Michigan has 128 delegates up for grabs in its Feb. 7 caucus, far more than any state that votes on Tuesday. "You can spend all your money in seven states or you can go to one," McMahon said. "Or you can wait for other states that are even more delegate rich than Michigan." Dean had an early advantage in Michigan. The state is allowing caucus-goers to cast their ballots on the Internet, an option tailor-made for Dean's web-based organization. But after Dean's loss in Iowa, Kerry opened a double-digit lead in the Michigan polls and Gov. Jennifer Granholm plans to endorse Kerry. The Massachusetts senator also has several other leading Michigan Democrats on his side. Dean's schedule through the weekend shows that he also plans to visit Seattle and Milwaukee. Washington's caucus is also on Feb. 7, with 76 delegates at stake, and the Wisconsin primary offers 72 delegates on Feb. 17. He'll also visit South Carolina, Missouri, New Mexico and Arizona, all of which have primaries or caucuses on Tuesday. Trippi's departure sent shock waves through the campaign, where he was a popular boss and something of an icon to the thousands of Internet-savvy supporters across the country. Trippi, who helped fashion Dean's antiestablishment message, was replaced by the ultimate Washington insider just as the candidate sought to reaffirm his outsider's mantle. Neel, Gore's former senatorial chief of staff, served as chief executive of the U.S. Telecom Association in Washington before working on Gore's 2000 presidential campaign. Neel was named to head Gore's transition team in anticipation of the former vice president winning the White House. Trippi is widely credited with helping Dean build the campaign that transformed him from an asterisk in the polls to front-runner by the end of 2003. sfgate.com Watchin' lurqer