Dean takes shot at Kerry, and rival responds

NEW CASTLE, N.H. -- Howard Dean began the closing phase of his New Hampshire primary campaign yesterday with shots at two targets that stunned him last week, Senator John F. Kerry, who bested him in Iowa, and Iowa itself, whose caucus vote left him in third place.

Dean criticized Kerry, leading in New Hampshire primary polls, for voting against the 1991 Persian Gulf War but in favor of last year's war in Iraq.

"Here is a gentleman who's running who votes `no' in 1991, when there are troops in Kuwait and the oil wells are on fire, and then votes `yes' and there turns out not to be a threat," Dean told reporters as his campaign bus rolled across the Seacoast region. "I would be deeply concerned about that kind of judgment in the White House. His voting record on Iraq is exactly the opposite of mine, and I think my position has been proven to be right. Twice."

The Kerry camp immediately fired back.

"When is Howard Dean going to realize that voters are tired of the same old angry attacks?" said Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. "America needs a steady hand, not a clenched fist. The time is running out for Howard Dean to decide what type of campaign he wants to run. Each day is a different strategy -- some days are negative; some days are positive. We all wait in great anticipation to see what he does tomorrow."

Dean also criticized Iowa's caucuses amid news last week that the campaign of Senator John Edwards circulated a 50-page memorandum, which included passages instructing his precinct captains about how to undercut Dean, Kerry, and other candidates during the caucuses.

Edwards later said he was unaware of the instructions, despite his signature on the memo, and told his staff "it is not ever to happen again."

Dean, who placed a distant third in Iowa behind Kerry and Edwards, said: "I believe that Iowa should be first [in the presidential selection process], but I think they're going to change their process to prohibit that kind of behavior inside the caucuses. If that were to continue, I wouldn't do it again."

He added: "I don't mean to impugn the results. I think Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards deserve full credit for their substantial and significant victories in Iowa. I'm simply making an observation about the process."

A Globe/WBZ-TV tracking poll of 400 probable voters Friday and yesterday showed Kerry continuing to gain support, Edwards steady, and Dean apparently having bottomed out after his emotion-filled concession speech in Iowa.

Kerry placed first, with 38 percent, up three points from the Thursday/Friday survey, while Dean remained at 15 percent and Edwards at 12 percent for the second consecutive day. Former Army General Wesley K. Clark remained in third place, at 14 percent, down 1 percentage point from his finish the previous day.

The sample has a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.

Dean started his day with a speech to about 100 people readying to canvass for him in Strafford County.

"Things are closing; we can win this," he told the group, which assembled in the cafeteria at Somersworth High School. "What we're seeing in the last few days is that people who went away from us after we lost Iowa are coming back.

"There are a lot of people from the other candidates and the undecided column who are coming back, so what you do today makes a big difference."

Later, speaking to more than 500 supporters at the Wentworth by the Sea hotel, he said: "We're catching up; we're closing the gap. The question is can we close it by Tuesday?"

Speaking afterward with reporters, he boasted, "I know New Hampshire better than anybody else" and said Granite State residents "want somebody who's going to stand up for what they believe in and not just what's popular."

Dean's mother, Andree, joined him on the Seacoast. Today, his press-shy wife, Judy Dean, will join him at a women's event in Manchester.

"New Hampshire has a great tradition of overturning what they did in Iowa," he said, "and we're going to take back this race for the people of the United States of America."

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