Drudge and Yahoo report.(read below or go here
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=615&u=/nm/20040209/pl_nm/campaign_dean_dc_26&printer=1 )
GREEN BAY, Wis. (Reuters) - Howard Dean (news - web sites) said on Monday even if he loses Wisconsin's Feb. 17 primary he will remain in the race for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.
"It's critical," Dean said when asked about the importance of the Wisconsin contest. But, he added, "It's not going to be the end of the line."
Asked if he would drop out if he lost Wisconsin as he said he would just last week, Dean said, "No." Asked if he fight on, he said, "Yup."
The former Vermont governor made the comments during interviews with local television stations -- just hours after he began an eight-day campaign blitz across the state during which he urged voters to keep "this debate alive" and rally behind someone who can unseat President Bush (news - web sites).
The one-time front-runner for the Democratic nomination later told reporters traveling with his campaign that people, particularly many of small donors, had convinced him to stay in the race regardless what happens in Wisconsin.
"I've just been convinced that we are not going to drop out. There are too many people who have come up to me and said, 'Whatever you do, don't drop out,"' he said.
Speaking at a hastily arranged news conference, Dean added, "We are going to do everything we can to win Wisconsin. It really is a make-or-break state for us in many ways."
He said he would remain in the contest as long as he believes he is a viable. Some big backers have said they would not see him as viable he lost the state.
Dean arrived in Wisconsin from Maine, where on Sunday he suffered his 12th defeat without a victory in state nominating contests.
VICTORY WOULD BRING MOMENTUM
He contends a victory in Wisconsin would reinvigorate his campaign, help generate fresh momentum and cash and prepare him for the presidential contests ahead, particularly in big states like Ohio, California and New York.
"I can't quit on all the people who are depending on me to raise the issues that we have raised," said Dean, who has waged an anti-war, anti-Washington campaign.
While polls show many Americans believe he should call it quits, and some backers have defected, Dean hopes to stage what would be a dramatic comeback in Wisconsin with an eight-day barnstorming campaign called "Real Choice, Real Change."
During appearances in Green Bay and Madison, which drew crowds of several hundred, Dean said, "The way to beat George W. Bush is with a candidate who already has stood up to him ... on issues that mattered -- like health care, investing in our children, the national debt and the Iraq (news - web sites) war."
"Democrats who watched the popularity polls and cut bad deals with the White House are not the right people to stand up to George Bush this fall," the former Vermont governor said.
Dean made the comments in taking a swipe at the party's new leader, Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) of Massachusetts, and Sen. John Edwards (news - web sites) of North Carolina, another White House rival.
With $1.1 million in contributions raised in recent days, Dean planned to begin airing on Monday a biographical ad in Wisconsin that basically helps reintroduce him to voters.
The spot describes Dean as a former family doctor and Vermont governor who has taken on special interests on behalf of average Americans, and is now ready to take on Bush.
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