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Monday, Jan. 26, 2004

"I think it should be the other way around," Dean said as he and other candidates entered the final day of campaigning before New Hampshire's leadoff primary. "Where was John Kerry when George Bush was giving out all this misinformation?"

Dean also complained that his campaign had been the target of dirty political tricks, including phone calls, e-mails and faxes that he said distorted his views.

Kerry, contending his positions on Iraq were consistent, has said the vote in 2002 authorized President Bush to threaten force rather than act unilaterally. He argued that his vote in 1991 was not against using force to oust Iraq from Kuwait.

With most polls showing him leading Dean, Kerry told supporters Monday morning in Portsmouth, "We're down to the last hour." He did not criticize his opponents by name and focused instead on Bush's policies. "We shouldn't downsize dreams in the United States of America." he said, "We should realize them."

Several polls released Monday showed Kerry leading Dean by 11 to 21 points. Three other candidates - Wesley Clark, John Edwards and Joe Lieberman - were in a statistical tie for third place in three surveys.

Reaganite Clark Attacks 'Heartless' GOP

Clark was taking his campaign bus into all 10 counties in New Hampshire on Monday. At a truck stop in Lebanon, he told a woman that the Republican Party is a "heartless organization" and told people that he had earned the respect of other nations while NATO supreme allied commander.

"When you elect a president, you need someone who's not just experienced at getting elected, but someone who's experienced at leadership," he said.

Dean said his opposition to the Iraq war was a significant difference between himself and Kerry.

"A lot of folks in the campaign, including Senator Kerry, complain about my lack of foreign policy experience," Dean, a former Vermont governor, said at a rally Sunday night. "But he voted not to go to war when the oil wells were on fire and the troops were in Kuwait."

Edwards, who finished second to Kerry in last week's Iowa caucuses and promised to wage a positive campaign, said Kerry had not been clear on the war.

"I think he's said some different things at different points in time," the U.S. senator said as the candidates made the rounds of Sunday's television news shows. "So I think there's been some inconsistency."

Distortions and Attacks

Dean spokesman Jay Carson said Monday that New Hampshire supporters of Dean had received phony campaign material by fax and e-mail that distorted Dean's positions. In Michigan, the campaign blamed Kerry allies for a flyer it said had lied and distorted Dean's stands on environment, energy, gun rights, the death penalty and higher education.

Kerry asked Dean to "stop running a negative campaign," even as he suggested that Dean could not get elected. During door-to-door campaigning Sunday, Kerry said his rival was weak on foreign policy and favored higher taxes for middle-class voters.

"The Republicans will just kill us on this," Kerry said. "Between foreign policy and taxes, I think it is a serious problem."

Kerry didn't sway David and Diana Frothingham after a 10-minute chat in their driveway. They said they still had to think about whether they would vote for him or Dean on Tuesday.

Kerry, winner of the Iowa caucuses, has the advantage in most polls taken over the weekend, but Dean appears to have stopped the hemorrhaging of support after his Iowa loss and a frenzied concession speech last week.

Dean's Wife Suddenly Available

Dean has been campaigning with his wife, who did not travel with him outside Vermont until last week. Judy Dean is a physician who said she couldn't leave her patients, but she canceled her appointments Monday to spend a second day by her husband's side in New Hampshire.

"Whether it's our careers, raising our children or being there for the ones we love, we all struggle and juggle to do it all," she said in a brief introduction of her husband at a woman's forum in Manchester.

Dean said his wife was helping him recover after the loss in Iowa. His campaign gave undecided voters a copy of the couple's first TV interview, on ABC's "Primetime Thursday," which aired last week.

New Hampshire is known for promoting underdogs and surprises. Polls showed 4 percent to 18 percent of voters were still undecided, and many more willing to reconsider their early picks.

Lieberman acknowledged Monday that he needed to do better than expected among New Hampshire voters, but the U.S. senator predicted his campaign would begin here rather than end.

"This is a very fluid situation. A lot of voters remain undecided," Lieberman said.

Clark Decries Missile Defense

Clark, criticizing President Bush on Sunday, said the White House's preoccupation with a missile defense program distracted him from the threat of al-Qaida before the 2001 terrorist attacks.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich toured New Hampshire on Sunday emphasizing his staunch opposition to the war in Iraq. He asserted he was the only candidate who went on record from the beginning as being skeptical of the Bush administration's claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

A victory would propel Kerry to the Feb. 3 primary states with momentum and money. Dean needs a surprise victory or close second to regain his footing after Iowa. The rest of the field hopes to exceed their modest expectations, then score their first victories Feb. 3.

In South Carolina, Al Sharpton assured black churchgoers that a vote for him will get their message all the way to the Democrat convention. "Know that I am going on all the way to the end no matter what," he said.

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