Democratic Dispatches

MANCHESTER, N.H. —  The traffic on Elm Street had come to a stop. On his media bus, Howard Dean was talking about the state of his campaign when a commotion outside distracted attention from him.

Dozens of television cameras and supporters were mobbing retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark as he walked down the street, shaking hands. A few minutes later, a man in a passing van blared from a megaphone: “Remember to vote for John Kerry for president!”

It’s been that kind of week for Dean, the one-time frontrunner in the Democratic presidential race who now is trying to right his campaign in New Hampshire and shake off his third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.

Once the center of attention, Dean now finds himself sharing the stage with his rivals -- and at times getting overshadowed as Kerry has skated past him in polls.

On Monday, the former Vermont governor seemed subdued, even as he continued to poke fun at his much-maligned caucus-night holler, an ongoing effort to use humor to win votes in today’s primary.

“Thank you for the applause,” Dean told several hundred people at a morning town hall meeting in Nashua. “It makes me so happy I could just scream.”

He laughed as audience members rose to their feet in response, clapping and offering shrieks of support.

A few minutes later, the enthusiastic crowd chimed in as Dean listed all the industrialized nations that provide universal health care, a mainstay of his stump speech.

“Who said you can’t have fun and campaign for president?” he said with a grin.

But between the moments of levity, there was something pensive and wistful about the usually confident candidate. When asked about his post-New Hampshire strategy Monday afternoon, Dean declined to answer.

“We’re not thinking about that right now,” he told reporters on the bus. “We just want to win tomorrow, if we can.”

To that end, he stumped through southern New Hampshire on Monday with, among others, his wife, Judy, actor Martin Sheen and Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union.

Instead of holding the usual foot-stomping, crowd-pleasing election eve rallies, Dean appeared at four relatively sedate town hall meetings, offering level-toned remarks about his credentials as a former governor and his prescription for the country.

Squeezed in between: photo opportunities for the evening news.

In the morning, Dean and his wife dropped off coffee for about two dozen volunteers huddled on a Manchester street corner. Some were waving signs and chanting, “Hope, not fear!”

Later, he remarked on the generosity of New Hampshire residents, who have been pressing throat lozenges in his hands over the last few days as he battled a cold. The famously frugal candidate also showed off a new suit -- a navy blue one he brought last fall (Dean says he likes to let his clothes “ferment” a bit before wearing them).

He also pronounced himself “hopeful and optimistic” about his prospects in today’s vote.

“We know it’s close,” Dean said. “We know we’re surging, and the question is, ‘Can we close the gap and eliminate the gap by tomorrow?’ ”

If not, he was asked, what would New Hampshire mean for his candidacy?

“It depends how we do. If we win, it’s a very powerful vote. If we don’t, then .... “ His voice trailed off.