Howard Dean must win Wisconsin or be 'out of race'

11.00am

FLINT, Michigan - Democrat Howard Dean laid down a marker for his once high-flying United States presidential bid on Thursday, saying anything less than a win in the Wisconsin primary on February 17 would "put us out of the race".

"The entire race has come down to this: We must win Wisconsin," the former Vermont governor told supporters in an e-mail. "A win there will carry us to the big states on March 2 -- and narrow the field to two candidates. Anything else will put us out of the race."

As he campaigned in Michigan, which holds its Democratic presidential contest on Saturday and where he has said he does not expect to win, Dean did not mention his self-imposed ultimatum during a sparsely attended event at the University of Michigan at Flint.

He declined to discuss the memo with reporters, saying, "We said what we're going to say about it. We're going to win Wisconsin."

In the fund-raising plea, Dean, who spent US$40 million ($59.3 million) on a gamble that he could wrap up the Democratic presidential nomination with early victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, asked supporters for US$50 contributions so he could raise US$700,000 by Sunday to pay for advertising in Wisconsin.

"We must launch our new television advertisement on Monday in the major markets in Wisconsin," he said. "To do that I need your help."

"All that you have worked for these past months is on the line on a single day, in a single state," the e-mail said.

Dean's opponents were not surprised by the move.

Chris Lehane, an aide to Democratic contender retired Gen. Wesley Clark, said it reflected the "cold, hard reality of presidential aspirations ... versus having cold, hard cash."

Dean, the fallen front-runner, has not won any of the nine contests held so far to choose the Democratic challenger to Republican president George W Bush in November. In Iowa and New Hampshire, he ended up far behind Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and on Tuesday he did not finish in the top two in any of the seven states that held contests.

After opening the year with all the money and all the momentum, Dean now finds himself in desperate straits, politically and financially. His campaign suspended staff pay briefly and has laid off workers. A new campaign chief, former Washington lobbyist and White House aide Roy Neel, was brought in to right the ship.

His original strategy in tatters, Dean is making Wisconsin a do-or-die contest.

Between now and then, he hopes to wage a war of political attrition, taking hits in places like Tennessee and Virginia on Tuesday, but chalking up enough delegates to outlast other underdog candidates until Wisconsin votes on February 17.

"We will get a boost this weekend in Washington, Michigan and Maine," Dean said of the states that hold contests this weekend. "But the true test will be the Wisconsin primary."

A candidate needs 2162 delegates to win the nomination. After his string of losses, Dean has focused on amassing delegates and had hoped to hold out until big states like New York and California vote on March 2. In recent days, he vowed to stay in the race "for the long haul."

A newcomer to presidential politics, Dean was surprised by the level of scrutiny he received as front-runner. Dean variously blamed his opponents for "walloping" him and the media for piling on. He also complained that his rivals had co-opted his issues.


"It was me that started the backbone transplant for the Democratic Party," he told reporters on his campaign plane. "Now we see the other candidates adopting the message."

- REUTERS