Dean pushing Democratic Congress

Howard Dean has said repeatedly that he would, against the odds, help elect a Democratic Congress to move his agenda if he were elected president next year.

Within the next 24 hours, the former Vermont governor will take the first step to live up to his word. An official said the campaign will send a mass e-mail to Dean's 513,220 registered campaign supporters, asking them to donate immediately to Representative Leonard L. Boswell, an Iowa Democrat who has been targeted for ouster by the Republicans.

The appeal is part of a broader effort by Dean to use his unexpectedly potent fund-raising network to support the campaigns of 19 or 20 congressional candidates. Collectively, their victories would break the Republican grip on both the House and Senate.

One political analyst said Dean's effort to simultaneously direct his supporters not only to his campaign but to those of congressional candidates as well is both unusual and also the latest indication of Dean's unconventional thinking.

"Most politicians would view money as a zero-sum game -- that if they get it somebody else doesn't, or if somebody else gets it then they don't," said Stuart Rothenberg, author of a nonpartisan Washington political newsletter. Supporting Boswell and other congressional candidates "would add a very interesting twist, and make it much more of a case of Howard Dean trying to transform the broader political system than just winning the White House."

The effort also would not be completely altruistic: Dean is running neck and neck in Iowa with Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri. Showing political largesse toward Boswell, who has yet to endorse a candidate in the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses, could not only help in the battle with Gephardt, but also with Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts. . He is trailing Dean in Iowa and New Hampshire, and Kerry's campaign believes it can boost its chances in the Jan. 27 Granite State primary with a strong showing in Iowa.

Toward that end, Kerry has been courting the political backing of Boswell, a fellow Vietnam War combat veteran.

Republicans currently enjoy a rare political trifecta in Washington. The GOP controls the White House and both chambers of Congress. In the House, the makeup is 229 Republicans to 205 Democrats, with one Democratic-leaning independent. In the Senate, the split is 51 to 48, also with one Democratic-leaning independent.

Congressional Quarterly, a news organization that closely monitors Congress and congressional elections, has projected that the GOP majority in the House could expand next year, 234 Republicans to 196 Democrats, with one independent and no clear favorite in four races. In the Senate, CQ has reported, the Republicans could maintain control 51 to 44, also with one independent and no clear favorite in four races.

Last week, at the end of a discussion of early-childhood issues in Ankeny, Iowa, Dean disclosed that his campaign had specific plans for supporting congressional candidates next year, with one aim in the House being the dethroning of Republican Leader Tom DeLay of Texas.

"We're going to do everything we can to make sure that Mr. DeLay is the minority leader in the next House of Representatives, and there are going to be 19 or 20 key seats," Dean said. "We, frankly, plan to raise money for congressional candidates who are going to be in tight races."

Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager, said the campaign has aimed all year not only to win the Democratic nomination for Dean and carry him to victory in the general election next year, but also to eventually see a shift in the control of Congress. Trippi points to the campaign's number of volunteers, as well as Dean's success in outraising the Democratic field in the last two fund-raising quarters, as evidence it will be able to deliver votes. Trippi said that the effort to change the congressional makeup would proceed if Dean did not win the party's nomination but that it would have a better chance of succeeding if Dean were the nominee.

"We can actually mobilize people to volunteer and work in the precincts, to work on behalf of strong challengers on the House and Senate level," Trippi said yesterday. "We believe this is more than about changing the president; it's about changing the country."

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.