Senator courts progressive Democrats on Dean turf

HANOVER, N.H. -- John F. Kerry made two assaults deep in Howard Dean territory yesterday to court liberals, environmentalists, and college professors and students at a time when some of them seem to have lost enthusiasm for Dean because of doubts about his electability.

Kerry drew about 450 people to a 9 a.m. rally in Concord, home to many Democratic activists, where he picked up the endorsement of the League of Conservation Voters, which has some 36,000 "environmental voters" in the Granite State. Later he headed to the Dartmouth College town of Hanover, where he offered his standard denunciations of President Bush.

In neither place did he mention Dean, continuing a new pattern of ignoring his rivals in New Hampshire, and instead hit a number of hot-button issues for progressive Democrats: He promised to restart worldwide negotiations on global warming, expand health care insurance, reject trade pacts that lacked labor and environmental standards, participate actively in United Nations affairs, and expand efforts to combat AIDS.

Several voters said they were giving Kerry a second, third, even fourth look -- on the cusp of Tuesday's New Hampshire primary -- because another candidate they like, Dean, appeared badly damaged by frequent news reports questioning his presidential qualities after his boisterous speech Monday night conceding the Iowa caucuses to Kerry.

"I didn't take his speech to be as bad as other people did, but I do think it hurt him, and I really, really care about electability over Bush in November," said Laurie Morrissey, a college administrator who attended the Concord event. "Kerry didn't knock my socks off today, but I thought he did very well. I'm looking at him seriously."

Since Kerry's victory in the caucuses, Dean's lead in New Hampshire has vanished, and the percentage of undecided voters has ticked upward, from 12 percent last weekend to 18 percent Friday night, according to Globe/WBZ-TV tracking polls. Kerry, who now has a 23-percent lead over Dean in New Hampshire, was also the choice of 48 percent of the likely voters who settled on a candidate in the last week; Dean was the choice of 10 percent, according to the Globe polls.

Kristina Lucas, a teacher and undecided voter from Bow, said she liked hearing Kerry describe his record in foreign affairs over the last 35 years, from his service in Vietnam to meetings with Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian, and other Middle East officials.

"When he talked about all his experiences with international leaders, that was the part when he started making me feel very committed," Lucas said. "I liked Dean's excitement, and he's bright, but I feel more confident about Kerry's experience."

Kerry, who has been relaxed and punchy on the campaign trail lately -- crediting his conversations with voters with ridding him of "Washington-ese" when he speaks -- fired up an audience of 600 in a Dartmouth auditorium and three overflow rooms with about 120 people each by taking jabs at Republicans. He corrected an audience member who used the phrase "partial birth abortion," saying there was no such thing, and added, "I don't think a lot of male legislators who are ideological" should be restricting abortion rights.

He also said Al Gore, the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee, was "elected" president but "never allowed to serve" once the Supreme Court ruled that Bush had won a majority in the Electoral College. He also took a dim personal view of Bush, saying, "I believe I can stand up to this guy," and noting that both he and Bush attended Yale.

After the Concord rally, Kerry played a noontime hockey game in Manchester with Ray Bourque, Cam Neely, and 12 other former Bruins, as well as with two members of the US women's national hockey team, eight firefighters, and 13 male and female high school skaters. Before a crowd of 2,000, Kerry scored two goals and played about one-third of the 30-minute game. His first goal was a fairly easy shot in an open net several minutes into the game. The second goal occurred after former Bruin Bob Sweeney passed the puck to Kerry as both skated toward the net. The senator flipped the puck past the goalie.

Speaking to reporters on his campaign bus after the game, Kerry said he felt "energized" by his campaign and was ignoring polls that suggest he has a commanding lead over Dean. Privately, his advisers say Kerry and the campaign are focused entirely on holding a lead. He expressed delight with the pace of his fund-raising, saying the campaign had raised more than $1 million over the Internet in the three days after winning Iowa.

"I want to use every minute I can to remind people what's at stake in this race," Kerry said. "I think we'll have a strong contest -- I've never suggested otherwise. I said I'm campaigning `til the end, and the voters are going to decide."

Kerry said he would have "some interesting news" to share soon about the Feb. 3 primary race in Missouri; he refused to explain, saying only that he would be opening campaign offices there fairly soon. He and other Democrats were not competing there until Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri dropped out of the race Tuesday. Since then Kerry has hired several Gephardt aides, including senior adviser Steve Elmendorf, who will help manage political affairs for Kerry. Luis Navarro, Kerry's political director, quit Friday night, angry over Elmendorf's recruitment, according to Kerry aides. Navarro could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Kerry said he would campaign and broadcast television ads soon in South Carolina.

Patrick Healy can be reached at phealy@globe.com.