Kerry aims for repeat performance
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- His "underdog" message was the same. His skepticism of opinion polls was the same. His populist rhetoric of promoting economic justice and fighting for the votes of ordinary Americans was the same.
As much as presidential candidate John F. Kerry tried yesterday to stick to this formula that brought him a surprise victory in Monday night's Iowa caucuses, he did have something new to contend with: suddenly heightened expectations for his candidacy, and questions about what it will take to achieve them. At a boisterous 7 a.m. rally at Manchester airport to welcome Kerry from Iowa, several supporters laid bare some of those unknowns: Would he score another upset win in the primary here on Tuesday? How much money did he have left after Iowa? Would he benefit from Richard A. Gephardt's exit from the race yesterday?
"I think Dean got a lot of interest up-front early, and that will start to fade," said Jere Turner, a college professor who was among the 275 people who attended the rally inside an airport hangar here. "But I always thought that Kerry had a lot of ability to follow through and make up the lost ground. After Iowa, we're all really counting on him to do that here and in the rest of the country."
Publicly, Kerry is sticking with his Iowa playbook, hoping to achieve the same success here in the next eight days that he had after 11 days of nonstop campaigning across the Hawkeye State, where he would sometimes stay at forums to answer voters' questions until he was the last person there. Top advisers, such as former New Hampshire governor Jeanne Shaheen and his Iowa field director, Michael Whouley, are drawing up plans to target undecided voters.
Kerry gained ground last night in a Boston Globe/WBZ tracking poll, which indicated 27 percent of likely voters in the state favored him, while 24 percent were for Dean, 17 percent supported Clark, and 9 percent backed Edwards. The poll, conducted Monday night and last night, had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Kerry's advisers, however, were concerned that Kerry would draw the sort of attacks from rivals and scrutiny from the media that fell on Dean for months.
Privately, the Massachusetts senator worked the phones from his campaign bus and hotel suite to solidify gains from his Iowa success. He courted the support of Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, a prominent black Democrat who had endorsed Gephardt, and made new fund-raising pitches and requests for backing from politicians who had not yet endorsed a candidate.
Campaign aides announced they were seeking to raise $365,000 on the Internet -- $1,000 for each of the 365 days until the 2005 presidential inauguration -- and had raised $250,000 by noon.
Of particular interest in the Kerry camp yesterday was the campaign's political strategy for the round of primaries on Feb. 3. Since he kicked off his campaign on Labor Day, Kerry has made only daylong or half-day trips to three of the seven states that will vote that day: South Carolina, Arizona, and New Mexico.
Dozens of Kerry's 200 or so paid staff in Iowa made plans to fan out to those three states, while campaign advisers also began discussing Kerry's prospects in Missouri, which had been written off by most Democrats because it is Gephardt's home state. Missouri is the biggest prize that day, offering the largest number of nominating delegates -- 88 -- as well as a foothold in a state that has traditionally been an electoral bellwether. Kerry aides said they planned to build an organization with paid staff in Missouri quickly.
At a town hall "chili feed" last night in Pembroke, N.H., Kerry told the crowd, "I want you to decide to vote for me. Therefore I want you to check out my heart, check out my gut, check out anything you want. . . . Let's have a great conversation."
Patrick Healy can be reached by e-mail at phealy@globe.com. 
