Dean campaign pushes on in a last-ditch effort in Wisconsin

MILWAUKEE -- Here is how Howard Dean spent the first full day of his do-or-die campaign in Wisconsin:

He spoke on a radio show in which the host inadvertently asked him about the "final days of his campaign." He went to a coffeehouse in an old pumping station on the shore of Lake Michigan and shook hands with a dozen residents. With an afternoon appearance in Sheboygan canceled because of snow, he rushed off to a closed-door speech in front of hundreds of teachers attending a conference, before returning to his hotel for a conference call in which he was endorsed by the mayor -- of Salt Lake City.

After that, he attended a hastily arranged round-table discussion with a group of nurses, some of them the same people who greeted him at a local union hall the prior evening. Then he flew home to Burlington, Vt., where he will remain all day today, despite ongoing elections in Washington, where Dean has predicted victory, and Michigan, where he earlier this week declared defeat. He will not return to Wisconsin until tomorrow night, after he campaigns in Maine.

Dean's entire visit to Wisconsin occurred against the backdrop of a new poll conducted for the state's leading newspapers that indicated that the Democratic front-runner, Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, had the support of 35 percent of likely voters surveyed, retired Army General Wesley K. Clark had 11 percent, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina had 9 percent, and Dean had 8 percent.

"I think the campaign's well underway, and full speed ahead," Dean said during the conference call in which he picked up the endorsement of Mayor Rocky Anderson of Salt Lake City. "We're going to be going up with advertising."

If there was a stir during the day, it occurred when Dean indicated he would consider taking the vice presidential slot on a Democratic ticket.

"I would . . . do anything I could to get rid of President Bush," he said on WMCS-AM, a Milwaukee talk-radio station. "I'll do whatever is best for the party. Obviously, I'm running for president, but whatever's best is what I'll do."

Later, when he called in to "The Bob Rivers Show" on KZOK-FM in Seattle, he was asked whether he could envision a pairing with any of the other major candidates remaining in the nomination race: Kerry, Clark, or Edwards. In that case, Dean sought to clearly put himself on the top of any possible ticket. "I'd be happy to consider any of them as vice presidential material," said Dean, who also said during the interview that he would not wage a third-party candidacy if his Democratic campaign fails.

After Dean hung up, one of the hosts said to listeners, "Oops, I just referred to it as `final days of his campaign.' "

Dean came to Wisconsin on Thursday night after canceling two campaign appearances he had planned in Michigan. No sooner had his staff and media entourage checked into hotel rooms in Detroit than the campaign began making a chain of cellphone calls telling everyone to reassemble in the lobby for an immediate departure to Wisconsin.

After the group arrived in Milwaukee, aboard a pair of jets chartered three hours earlier, Dean held a brief news conference at an airport hotel before greeting supporters at a coffee shop and a union hall filled with campaign phone banks.

Dean was invigorated by a fund-raising drive in which he urged his supporters earlier in the day to donate to his campaign, warning that a loss in the Wisconsin primary would effectively end his candidacy. The initial goal of $700,000 was reached by 11 p.m. Thursday, and yesterday, the campaign doubled the goal to $1.4 million. As of 4:30 p.m., the total amount raised was $939,000.

"You're going to see that on Wisconsin television," Dean told the crowd inside the Bean Cafe. Referring to Kerry and Bush, he added, "In the words of two other politicians, let me be the third to say, `Bring it on in Wisconsin.' "

During Dean's visit yesterday to Altera Coffee across a park from Lake Michigan, journalists outnumbered patrons. Dean spoke for several minutes with two men holding a business meeting. As he turned away, one of them, Christian Bartley, a 33-year-old management consultant, said: "Please stay in the race. You and the other guys have been great for the debate."

The candidate replied, "If you want me to stay in the race, you have to vote for me."

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