Edwards Courting Dean and His Fence-Sitting Supporters

Faced with an opponent with an outsized lead and the wind of momentum at his back, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is hoping to erect a speed bump to slow Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry’s race to the Democratic presidential nomination.

Over the last week, Edwards has been persistently wooing Howard Dean, hoping the man who once dominated the contest but ended his presidential bid last week will back him.

Since Dean dropped out, Edwards has called him several times, and Edwards’ aides have reached out to advisors to the former Vermont governor.

“I want your help; I want your support,” Edwards said he told Dean. The North Carolina senator then laughed and said: “It’s not rocket science.”

Speaking to about 350 people Monday night in a high school cafeteria in Houston, Edwards sang his former rival’s praises. Describing Dean as his friend, Edwards praised him for bringing “so much to this presidential campaign,” adding that “he was a powerful force for change.”

The backing of Dean could help Edwards in the two largest states among 10 that hold primaries or caucuses Tuesday -- California and New York. Polls this week have shown Edwards far behind Kerry in both, but Dean had a combined volunteer network of 170,000 people in the two states.

Dean has been noncommittal, although aides said he admired Edwards and got along well with him. Before he withdrew from the race, Dean said he believed Edwards would make a stronger challenger against President Bush than Kerry would.

“He’s made no secret that he likes John Edwards a great deal,” said Roy Neel, Dean’s former campaign chief. “But I don’t think there’s anything going on right now other than an ongoing conversation.”

Edwards told reporters that in a recent conversation, Dean told him he was “very impressed” with the senator’s campaign, but added, “I need a little time to think about it.”

Kerry has also reached out to Dean, although to a lesser extent than Edwards has, according to aides to the former governor. While Dean has promised to support the eventual Democratic nominee, he would not likely back Kerry before then, they said. During Dean’s final weeks of campaigning, he singled out Kerry for criticism, charging that the senator was a captive of Washington’s special interests.

For now, Dean advisors said, he was hesitant to weigh in on the race, concerned that endorsing Edwards could complicate his efforts to relaunch his campaign as a grass-roots organization aimed at defeating Bush. He also is unsure that backing Edwards would have a tangible impact at this point, his advisors said.

“There’s no point in endorsing if you can’t convert that into votes,” said one Dean advisor.

Still, even if Dean does not endorse, Edwards and his camp are optimistic they can win the support of the former governor’s supporters in several of Tuesday’s primaries.

Edwards has held meetings with Dean leaders in Minnesota and made overtures to key Dean organizers in other states, including Ohio. And there are signs that some Dean backers are switching their allegiance.

Dean supporters have been prominent at Edwards events in recent days, holding up “Deaniacs for Edwards” signs at Ohio State University and helping to overfill a union hall in St. Paul, Minn.

Last week, Eric Schmeltzer, who worked as deputy campaign manager for Dean in New York, launched www.deaniacsforedwards.com.

Schmeltzer wrote on his website that Edwards “gives us the strongest chance to beat George Bush,” calling him “a candidate who I believe is most closely aligned with the principles Gov. Dean articulated in his campaign.”

The co-founders of the Generation Dean youth outreach effort -- Michael Whitney and Ryan Beam -- announced their support for Edwards on Monday.

And student groups at two New York colleges, Cornell University and the Rochester Institute of Technology, have gone from formally backing Dean to supporting Edwards.

Dean and Edwards “really have a similar message; they really want to return power to the people,” said Christopher Jaun, 22, a senior computer science major at the Rochester school who headed the Dean group on campus.

His organization is now helping staff Edwards’ Rochester office, and distributed literature and staffed phone banks for the senator.

At an Edwards rally Sunday night, Jaun spotted several “Deaniacs for Edwards” signs and spoke to several former Dean staffers and supporters in the crowd.

“I think a lot of [Dean backers] are going to go to Edwards,” Jaun said. “They can be a major wild card in this race. Where they go could really tilt things.”

*

Times researcher Susannah Rosenblatt contributed to this report.