Dean's efforts wheeze along

Polls show the former front-runner 20 points behind John Kerry in Wisconsin. "We're going on," Dean insists.

LA CROSSE, Wis. - There was a time when Howard Dean's crowds were so large, fire marshals sometimes turned people away at the door.

On Monday, as the fallen front-runner crisscrossed Wisconsin for what could be his last stand, few people had trouble getting in to see him.

The former Vermont governor who used to regularly draw crowds topping 1,000 now sometimes attracts a few dozen. And where he once brushed off questions about his potential vice presidential picks, he now mostly faces questions about when he will pull out of the race.

"Whatever happens tomorrow, we're going on. This has come too far," he told a crowd at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse Monday.

That line drew cheers from the crowd of 300 in La Crosse, even as many of those cheering spoke of Dean's campaign in the past tense.

"America had a chance to take America back and instead they followed the lead of the media and didn't vote their conscience," complained Ohio resident Alex von Rosenberg, who sells decks of cards featuring Dean's face. "They passed on taking America back and instead people played amateur voting experts in terms of deciding who's the most electable candidate."

Dean's arc - from obscure long shot to Internet-driven front-runner and back to long shot - is one of most remarkable journeys in modern American politics. The blunt-talking candidate redefined grass roots campaigning with his successful Internet fundraising and organizing, and he prompted the rest of the Democratic field to intensify their attacks on President Bush.

Now, though, he appears to be on his last gasp. Having won none of 16 primaries and caucuses, and with polls showing him at least 20 points behind Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry for Wisconsin's primary today, he is poised to be the first candidate in three decades to fail to win his party's nomination after raising the most money.

Nearly 30 journalists joined Dean as he flew around Wisconsin Monday for what was essentially a death watch.

"Are you getting out of the race?" yet another TV reporter asked Dean after he spoke to a group of Muslim-Americans in Milwaukee.

"Absolutely not," Dean said, pressing through the cameras.

Dean campaign staffers no longer bother trying to spin reporters about how their candidate can pull out an upset and win the nomination. His national campaign chairman, Steve Grossman, left the campaign Monday, after telling the New York Times he was ready to start helping Kerry.

Dean, 55, has backed off a previous statement that he would abandon his campaign if he loses Wisconsin, but he told reporters he would not make his intentions clear until Wednesday at the earliest. Some expect he might keep his name on the ballot in subsequent races, or turn his efforts and considerable grass roots organization toward helping elect other Democrats across the country.

"We're going to change this country one way or the other. If I win the presidency, it will happen a lot quicker," he told supporters in Wausau Monday afternoon.

Dean was once best known for his passion on the stump. Now he is often a model of mellow. His supporters have noticed.

"Dean looks tired, almost defeated," one supporter lamented in the campaign Web site message board during a debate Sunday night in Milwaukee. The writer wondered why Dean wasn't attacking Kerry more aggressively.

Melancholy Deaniacs were common in Wisconsin too, even as they glumly stuck by their man. The other Democratic contenders, several said, lacked Dean's guts to stand up to Bush when the president's approval ratings were soaring.

"I'm so tired and despondent," said Marry Rasmussen, a member of the Democratic National Committee from Boyceville. "I can no longer answer the question of what makes a Democrat different from a Republican."

The old Dean fire still pops up.

In Madison Monday evening, a raucous crowd of more than 400 chanted "We want Dean! We want Dean!" The candidate, his shirt sleeves rolled up, noted that his Democratic opponents are sounding just like him, and he credited his supporters with already succeeding in crafting the Democratic party platform.

"That's one of the reasons we started this out was to put some spine back into the Democratic Party," he said.

Despite his change in fortunes, Dean did not act especially glum. He has said he feels much less pressure now that he is no longer the front-runner.

Monday morning he sang Happy Birthday for a campaign aide and lectured reporters about the glories of Wisconsin's Sprecher root beer. He cheerfully deflected questions about his campaign's future, calling it one of his "rare successful attempts at self-censorship."

In Wausau, a grinning Dean slapped a pair of headphones on to chat with a DJ for Z-104, a heavy metal radio station in central Wisconsin.

"I'm Howard Dean and I listen to Z-104," the candidate declared.

The DJ noted that Z-104 was the "Howard Dean of radio stations," leaving Dean to wonder what that meant.

"It means we're cool," someone from the station explained.

The Howard Dean of radio stations is also third in its market.

- Adam C. Smith can be reached at 727 893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com

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