Dean looks to Mich. and Wash. primaries

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Howard Dean said yesterday he does not have to win during the seven-state voting next Tuesday to remain a viable presidential candidate, but he opened a full-bore effort in Michigan, which votes four days later, asking his Web-savvy supporters to begin voting immediately via the state's first widespread Internet balloting program.

Dean indicated he will avoid costly battles in the states that vote next Tuesday, instead targeting more populous Michigan and Washington, with a combined 200-plus delegates, which vote Feb. 7.

While Dean will visit Missouri, New Mexico, and Arizona today and hopes to accumulate delegates in some or all of those states next week, he has lowered expectations of winning any of them outright. Combined, their 155 delegates would only be slightly more than those up for grabs in Michigan.

"Revolutions aren't so easy . . . and there will be tough times, and we're in a tough time now," Dean, who failed to win the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, told an audience of 200 that was matched by similar crowds in two overflow rooms. "This is it: If you really want your country back, `applytovote.com,' " he said, citing the state's online voter registration site. "Get as many people as you can to do it now. This is a referendum. This election is a referendum on whether we want real change in America, or do we just want to change presidents, one special interest for the other."

In 2000, Arizona became the first state to offer Internet balloting. The Michigan Democratic Party decided to give it a try for next week's caucuses, and as of mid-January, more than 25,000 ballots had been requested and some 1,200 cast. Voting via the Web will continue until 4 p.m. Saturday. For Dean the new method may prove potent: He has already shown he can gain support via the Web, raising $41 million for his campaign last year in large part through Internet donations.

Reading from prepared remarks before reverting to his standard stump speech, Dean took direct aim at Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina, declaring himself the only candidate remaining in the seven-member field who can beat President Bush in the fall.

"We can do this in this country, but we're not going to do it, and we're not even going to beat George Bush, with a Washington insider," he said. "Whoever [in that group] may end up getting the nomination is not going to beat George Bush because they're not going to have the courage of their convictions to stand up for what's right."

The decision to visit Michigan, and the content and tenor of Dean's remarks, were emblematic of a "leaner, meaner" campaign he promised Wednesday when he shook up his campaign organization. He appointed a new chief executive officer, Roy Neel, a move that prompted campaign manager Joe Trippi to resign. Dean also trimmed expenses by deferring staff salaries for two weeks and pledged to win the nomination by targeting the most delegate-rich primaries and caucuses over the first 10 days of February.

Speaking on MSNBC last night, Trippi said, "The campaign has the money it needs to fight on, and I think the grass roots is continuing to support it."

An emotional Trippi said he still believes "Dean will be the nominee and is the candidate who can change America."

Dean is visiting Michigan twice this week, returning Sunday for events in Detroit. He is counting on labor support, as evidenced by a backdrop at Michigan State University composed entirely of labor union members working in the service, government, and painting trades. All told, Dean has about 70 staffers in the state, including more than 40 who arrived from Iowa following the caucuses. He also has offices in Detroit, suburban Livonia, and Lansing, the state capital.

Kerry is expected to have the endorsement of high-profile political players such as Governor Jennifer Granholm, but Dean is hoping for grass-roots "people power" and support from Representative John Conyers, a prominent black congressman who previously appeared to endorse Dean but then clarified that he had not.

The former Vermont governor is not currently running ads in any states voting next week, and he has no plans to appear on TV before Tuesday. His staff is working on commercials for Michigan, although it has made no decision about when, where, or how frequently to air them, campaign advisers said.

En route to Michigan, Dean was asked if he could continue his campaign without a victory next Tuesday. "Yes. It's about delegates," he told a pool of reporters aboard his campaign charter. "We're going to have to win eventually, but the question was, do you have to win on February 3? Of course we want to, but we don't have to. We need to amass as many delegates as we can. That's what we're going to try to do."

Later, in retooled openings and closings to his stump speech, he used fresh language as he continued to present himself as a politican with courage.

"I started this race saying that I was from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. I'm tired of Democrats who find it convenient to be a Democrat only during primary time," Dean told the students. "All my opponents now in this race are talking the talk, even those who voted for the war act like they opposed it, and those who voted for `No Child Left Behind' [legislation] now criticize it. Those who shrank from confrontation with the right wing of the Republican Party in the face of polls and pundits now compete to outdo each other in the condemnation of George W. Bush."

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