NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004

"I still have the same underdog mentality," Kerry said as he left Boston for Missouri, the first of seven states on a campaign itinerary leading to next week's round of balloting.

But it was Dean who was scrambling to regain his balance, replacing his campaign manager with a longtime associate of Al Gore and asking aides to defer their paychecks for two weeks.

"Governor Dean asked Roy Neel to join the campaign CEO and Joe Trippi resigned as campaign manager," said Tricia Enright, a campaign spokeswoman.

One source said Trippi, the architect of Dean's antiestablishment campaign, turned down an offer to stay on as senior adviser.

Kerry, winner of the kickoff Iowa caucuses last week, added New Hampshire to his campaign trophy case on Tuesday with a double-digit victory over Dean. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Joe Lieberman finished farther back.

A total of 269 pledged delegates are at stake next week in primaries in Missouri, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona and Delaware as well as caucuses in New Mexico and North Dakota.

After single-state contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, the candidates' travel schedules reflected the changed nature of the race. Kerry went first to Missouri, where Dick Gephardt's recent departure from the race created a wide-open race. Edwards started in South Carolina; Clark and Lieberman in Oklahoma.

After staying off the air last week except to advertise to New Hampshire voters, Kerry's campaigned opened its checkbook to pay for commercials in each of the Feb. 3 states.

His primary victory reaped immediate dividends in the form of endorsements from former Sens. Jean Carnahan and Tom Eagleton in Missouri.

Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the dominant black politician in his state, also intends to endorse Kerry, according to campaign and other officials.

Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, too, signed on after remaining neutral in his state's caucuses earlier this month. "He's the Democrat best positioned to provide President Bush with the strongest debate and the best chances for success in the fall," he said of Kerry.

Electability

Electability has emerged as a key issue this year for Democrats, many of whom rate ousting Bush their highest priority. In interviews as they left their polling places on Tuesday, one in five New Hampshire voters said the quality that mattered most was a candidate's ability to defeat Bush. Kerry won the support of 60 percent of those voters.

Carnahan, the widow of former Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan, lost her seat in the 2002 elections. Eagleton retired from the Senate rather than seek re-election in 1986. Still, their decisions to stand with Kerry underscored the extent to which his candidacy is beginning to draw the support of well-known Democrats from around the country.

Sen. Jon Corzine of New Jersey, who holds a key party fund-raising post as head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, announced his support on Tuesday.

Clyburn's decision, in particular, was a coup for Kerry and a setback for Edwards, who has said he must win the South Carolina primary.

"Representative Clyburn is a leader in the African-American community," said Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts senator. As many as half the state's primary ballots next week may be cast by black voters.

But Ike Williams, on a leave of absence as Clyburn's chief of staff and now a paid Edwards adviser, called the endorsement part of a "bandwagon" effect after Kerry's early successes.

"I'm not for this bandwagon thing because there was a bandwagon behind Dukakis and we went through a train wreck," Williams said _ a reference to the 1988 Democratic campaign that ended in defeat for then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.

Dean, who once dreamed of sweeping the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, withdrew to Burlington, Vt., where he made his campaign-altering decisions.

Rejecting advice from some aides, Dean told The Associated Press he would not concede any state to Kerry. "We've got a strategy and a good organization to win everywhere and we're going to try to get as many delegates as we can everywhere," he said.

In a conference call with congressional supporters, Dean stressed his determination to stay the course. But several participants told him that finishing second in primaries wasn't good enough _ that he needed to win in some states. "He said he understood," said one participant in the call, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Neel is a longtime associate of Gore, dating to the former vice president's Senate days. He also is former head of the U.S. Telecom Association, the type of industry-specific interest group that Dean often criticizes for having too much influence on Washington leaders.

Edwards turned aside a question of accepting the vice presidential nomination on a ticket headed by one of his rivals. "No, no. Final. I don't want to be vice president. I'm running for president," he said on NBC's "Today" show.

Clark flew to Oklahoma, where he stressed that he has spent a lifetime out of politics. "I should tell you up front, I am not a career politician," the retired four-star general said in prepared remarks. "I haven't spent years holding hearings and cutting deals with high-priced lobbyists."

Lieberman, who finished fifth in New Hampshire, followed Clark into Oklahoma after rejecting the advice of some of his aides to drop out.

© 2003 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

© 2003 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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