Howard Dean sacked his campaign manager on Wednesday night in attempt to shake up his presidential bid, after suffering his second stinging defeat at the hands of Senator John Kerry.
Dean replaced Joe Trippi, whose internet-based campaign helped lift the former Vermont governor out of obscurity, with Roy Neel, a former adviser to Al Gore. Trippi resigned rather than accept a junior post on the campaign.
”This is a great campaign to change the country,” he said. ”I regret anything I may have done to let down the hundreds of thousands of people who support Howard Dean. I hope they will stay with Howard Dean. This campaign can change the country.”
Soon after, Dean staff were told to wait two weeks for their salaries, in an attempt to save the campaign money. After seeming that it could do no wrong for months before the primaries began, the Dean campaign faltered at the last moment, falling to third place in last week’s Iowa caucuses.
Some inside the campaign blamed the loss on the decision to ”go negative”, broadcasting a series of advertisements attacking Dean’s rivals.
The changes came last night when Dean returned to Vermont after conceding a 13% loss to Kerry in New Hampshire. Addressing disappointed but determinedly vocal supporters in a university gymnasium, he described the result as ”a solid second”.
He went on to claim that his performance — taking 26% to Kerry’s 39% — had reversed the decline in his campaign which set in last week in Iowa. ”The people of New Hampshire have allowed our campaign to regain its momentum, and I am very grateful,” he said.
But there were few signs of positive momentum to take to the next seven states to vote, on February 3, mostly in the south and west.
The New Hampshire result was also dispiriting for General Wesley Clark and John Edwards, who came a narrowly separated third and fourth, with only about 12% each.
Clark’s appeal as an experienced soldier was blunted by the emphasis Kerry put on his Vietnam war record, and he lost to the Massachusetts senator even among war veterans.
Exit polls suggested that Edwards was seen as pleasant but lacking in experience.
Joe Lieberman, for all his campaign claims to have picked up ”Joe-mentum”, finished with only 9% support, but was reportedly resisting pressure from his advisers to give up.
Dean’s loss was comprehensive. He generated most excitement among college-educated voters, but he lost despite the fact that they represented 60% of the turnout in New Hampshire.
The polls also made it clear that the Iraq war — the issue behind the sudden rise of his campaign last year — has faded from voters’ minds.
Only about 15% said Iraq was their most important issue, compared with the 40% who picked the economy.
Even among voters for whom opposition to the war was the most important issue Dean scarcely outscored Kerry.
In a campaign in which policy differences have been relatively minor, the choice has focused on ”electability” and personality.
On the first count, Kerry was helped considerably by Dean’s Iowa outburst. He also benefited from a Newsweek poll at the weekend suggesting that only he among the seven remaining contenders would beat Bush if the election were held now.
On the personality front, Kerry has worked hard to soften his image, appearing frequently with his children and his wife.
He also received a boost from former Vietnam comrades who have emerged from retirement to help him.
”In the hardest moments of the past month, I depended on the same band of brothers I depended on more than 30 years ago,” he said, bringing up a theme that is likely to take on greater importance as the campaign continues.
”We’re a little older, a little greyer, but we still know how to fight for our country,” he added. – Guardian Unlimited Â