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Dean Getting Second Look From N.H. Voters
1 hour, 1 minute ago
By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer
LONDONDERRY, N.H. - Larry O'Sullivan said Howard Dean (news - web sites) "looked like a yahoo" bellowing in defeat from Iowa. Patricia Fields thinks he was "a bit wild." And Kim Lindley-Soucy said he was "overly excitable."
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Election 2004
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So why did these New Hampshire Democrats stand shoulder-to-shoulder Friday to listen to the embattled presidential candidate's new stump speech? They were giving the former Vermont governor a second look.
Dean's presidential aspirations, teetering on the edge of a political abyss, depend on voters such as Fields, Lindley-Soucy and O'Sullivan finding virtue in his faults — and giving him what O'Sullivan called "one more once-over."
It is too early to know whether Dean has turned his campaign around, and all the traditional measures — polls, endorsements, conventional wisdom and a simple lack of time before Tuesday's primary — lean against him. But interviews with nearly two dozen undecided voters Friday suggest that Dean's political makeover could at least stop his precipitous slide.
That would not be good for Sen. John Edwards (news - web sites), Wesley Clark (news - web sites) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (news - web sites) — all struggling to pass Dean and Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), whose lead in state polls has widened since the campaign left Iowa.
"When we saw him up their shouting and yelling, it put a lot of us on the fence. There's not a lot of difference between these guys so it doesn't take a lot to move us from one to another," said Ed Hennessy, 58, a retired union worker in Nashua, N.H., who deserted Dean last week.
"But I'm back in his camp. It was just a slip of the tongue, and nobody's perfect," Hennessy said. "I've got to give him credit for speaking from his heart."
Hennessy could have been reading Dean's script. Devised in the desperate hours after Iowa's upset, Dean's new stump speech is one part confessional ("I'm not a perfect man"), one part explanation ("I am passionate, but we can't beat Bush without some intensity"), and a heavy dose of New England populism ("I speak from my heart, not my head").
Woven throughout Dean's new script is criticism of his opponents. He claims he is the political outsider to their Beltway-insider resumes.
"Listen, to what they say. 'You can have middle-class tax cuts. You can have health care for every American,'" Dean told the crowd here. "You believe that?" In Nashua, N.H., he said voters want "a candidate who will tell the truth."
The five-term Vermont governor, no stranger to Washington institutions such as the Democratic Governors Association, said America needs change. "We're not going to do this by nominating a Washington insider," said Dean, former chairman of the DGA.
More than 250 people sat in folding chairs and watched Dean stroll the stage. Many said they weren't considering voting for him a week ago, either because they were never interested or — a sentiment heard most often — they were turned off by his defeat and post-election performance.
O'Sullivan, 50, a salesman from Londonderry, said Dean had not been on his short list.
"But here I am because of the impression he gave in the debate, despite the fact that he looked like a yahoo a couple days before in Iowa. I think he made up for it," O'Sullivan said.
He had watched Thursday night's debate, where Dean previewed his new strategy. Many voters stayed tuned afterward for an ABC interview with Dean and his wife, Judy.
"I think we've turned the corner and we're going to come back up, and the question is can we close the gap between now and Tuesday," Dean said, though it's too early for polls to reflect opinions after the debate.
Up to 20 percent of voters are undecided, surveys show, and many with favorite candidates are still open to changing their minds. Dean advisers say they hope they can stop his slide then claim a comeback — if not outright victory — much as Bill Clinton (news - web sites) did in 1992 when Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas beat him by 8 percentage points amid an extramarital affair scandal.
Lindley-Soucy, cradling her baby at a Dean event, was not a supporter, certainly not immediately after Iowa. Suddenly, she's curious.
"He comes across as honest, even when it hurts," she said.
Fields, 66, a mental health counselor from Londonderry, said the media has made too much of the speech, a sentiment echoed by others.
"I think he was too tame to tell you the truth. I hope he doesn't back down," she said.
Gloria Kelley, 53, a union worker who attended one of his events, said she still has her doubts about Dean.
"He was over the top, wasn't he? It makes you wonder about his judgment," she said. Then a smile crept across her face, and she said, "I think I'll give him a second look, if the media doesn't mind."
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EDITORS: Ron Fournier has covered politics for The Associated Press since 1993.
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