Operation February
Confident about winning both Iowa and New Hampshire, Howard Dean is already setting his sights on the rest of the nation

Just about the last thing you'd expect a presidential candidate to do is ask his supporters to give money to another politician–especially one who hasn't endorsed him. So when Howard Dean quietly made that offer to Tim Bishop earlier this fall, the New York Congressman couldn't quite figure out what to make of it. Bishop turned him down, noting that he planned to throw his support behind Senator John Kerry. But Iowa's Leonard Boswell–who is uncommitted in the presidential race and expects to remain so–had no such qualms when Dean came to him with the same deal a few weeks ago. He hastily retooled his website so he could accept contributions over the Internet. Within 24 hours of the Dean campaign's sending out an email appeal on Boswell's behalf, a total of $51,557 poured in from 1,359 Deaniacs across the country, most of whom had probably never heard of Boswell before.

It was an audacious move and a smart one too–and not just because it gave Dean a chance to do a big favor for the only Democratic Congressman from a state whose Jan. 19 caucuses are looking more crucial than ever in the fight for the nomination. By siphoning off some of his money supply to Boswell, Dean was sending a signal to the Democratic Party establishment on Capitol Hill–especially Southern Democrats–which may have some misgivings about the prospect of a presidential ticket headed by an antiwar nominee from the liberal Northeast. The meaning was clear: My rising tide can lift your boat too. Dean's campaign manager, Joe Trippi, says the former Governor is considering making similar share-the-wealth offers to dozens of other Democratic lawmakers and candidates. To those Democrats who might be thinking of starting an Anyone-but-Dean movement, Dean is sending a none-too-subtle message: You need me as much as I need you. And maybe more.

Call it confidence, or perhaps bravado, but Dean is unrolling a new pedal-to-the-metal national strategy. As vital as Iowa and New Hampshire are in this front-loaded primary season, the campaign is already looking past those two contests. Dean's organization plans a multimillion-dollar advertising blitz in South Carolina, New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma that will start this week and continue until those states hold their contests on Feb. 3. "Let's see who has the resources now to follow us," Trippi says. On a five-city swing through Iowa on Friday, Dean touted not a local poll but a Florida one showing him running only 8% behind Bush, despite the fact that he hasn't spent much time in the state.

"It kind of puts the lie to the electability argument," he told reporters. If Dean is already beginning to view the race as a contest between himself and George W. Bush, it looks as if the Republicans are too. The conservative organization Club for Growth last week bought $100,000 worth of airtime in New Hampshire and Iowa for ads that compare Dean to George McGovern, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis and claim that the former Vermont Governor would raise the average family's taxes more than $1,900 a year. Dean's campaign counter-attacked almost immediately with an ad featuring a picture of Bush above a closed factory and touting Dean as a fiscal conservative.

—from TIME, December 15, 2003

Questions

1. What is Dean's national campaign strategy?

2. How do conservatives characterize Dean?