Despite a second defeat, Dean says he feels revitalized

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Despite a double-digit loss and a clear second-place finish, Howard Dean proclaimed political rejuvenation last night in the New Hampshire primary, vowing to continue his presidential campaign until next year's inauguration, even as he and his aides pored over the results to determine the future direction and tenor of his candidacy.

"The people of New Hampshire have allowed our campaign to regain its momentum, and I'm very grateful," the former Vermont governor told a crowd of several hundred cheering, foot-stomping supporters gathered in the gymnasium at Southern New Hampshire University. "And the people of New Hampshire have allowed all you to hope again that we're going to have real change in America."

Dean finished far behind the tracking poll figures he touted in the closing days of the campaign.

Heavy spending in New Hampshire and Iowa -- which produced wins in neither state -- also weighed on the campaign as it pondered how to allocate resources in the face of seven Feb. 3 primaries and caucuses, principally across the South and Southwest.

Campaign manager Joe Trippi said Dean probably will concentrate on New Mexico, Arizona, and South Carolina, in that order, which all vote next week. But even that battle plan was subject to change. After speaking to supporters, Dean headed back to Burlington, Vt., to regroup before traveling to South Carolina for a debate tomorrow.

Trippi said he still expects an extended nomination battle. And Dean told the crowd in his remarks: "For those of you who believe that America needs real change, and someone in the White House who really delivers change, we're all together in this. Stand with us to the very end, which is Jan. 20, 2005."

For the second straight week, Dean finished behind Senator John F. Kerry. Dean took aim at Kerry, a 19-year veteran of Congress, even before all the ballots were counted.

"Now it looks like it's going to end up being a discussion about how much change you want in Washington," Dean said on CNN's "Larry King Live."

"I think the only way to beat George Bush is to have somebody from outside Washington come down and do something for ordinary American working families again, and I don't see that happening with folks from inside Washington."

Dean spokeswoman Tricia Enright was more blunt.

"Let it be a two-man race; we'll take it," she said as she watched Dean deliver his remarks. "Kerry will be the establishment candidate. And we believe that in the end, if people are looking for real change, they'll realize that Howard Dean is the one to deliver it."

According to exit polls yesterday, a couple of factors seemed to work against Dean. Many voters who had been undecided said they had moved toward Kerry in the past several days, while most of Dean's backers cemented their support for him at least a month ago.

Voters also said they were concerned more about the economy and health care than the Iraq war, undercutting a signature Dean issue.

In addition, Kerry nearly held his own among first-time voters, a perceived Dean strength, winning the support of 32 percent of them to Dean's 36 percent.

Dean closed out his two-year campaign in New Hampshire yesterday with the kind of feisty rhetoric that became his hallmark on the trail. He contrasted his record of 12 years as a chief executive against that of the "Washington insiders" opposing him. And he accused the Bush administration, especially Vice President Cheney, of conspiring to deceive the American people in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Asked on WKBK-AM in Keene about the recent resignation of David Kay, who headed the CIA search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Dean instead referred to a story in The Washington Post last June that reported Cheney had repeatedly visited the CIA's offices before the war, leaving some intelligence analysts feeling pressured to alter their reports about Iraq's potential threat.

"I think the biggest problem with David Kay's resignation is that the vice president evidently went to the CIA and influenced the writing of intelligence reports. In other words, the administration did cook the books," Dean said.

"We went to war in part because the intelligence reports were influenced by the vice president of the United States. I think that raises very serious questions about the truthfulness of both the president and the vice president on the way to the Iraq war."

Dean added, "If the intelligence reports were influenced by the vice president, who apparently wanted them to say something different than they were saying, I think that's a pretty serious charge, and I think it makes this administration unfit to conduct foreign policy."

But Dean declined to accuse Cheney and President Bush of lying to the American people, telling a reporter afterward, "It's hard to say because we don't know what was in their minds."

Cheney's spokesman, Kevin Kellems, responding by telephone as he flew with the vice president from Europe, said Dean's allegations were totally unfounded. Kellems said meetings between Cheney and the CIA are a core part of his responsibility as vice president.

Dean also spoke yesterday on the morning network news shows before making stops at two polling places in Manchester and Concord. At each venue, he poured coffee for campaign sign-holders, including some Edwards supporters.

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