Dean Plans TV Ad Blitz for Feb. 3 Contests

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean is launching a wave of television advertising in key states holding primaries or caucuses on Feb. 3, underscoring his aggressive effort to capture the party’s nomination.

On Monday, the former Vermont governor will air television commercials in South Carolina and New Mexico, with plans for the spots to continue for two months, campaign manager Joe Trippi said Friday. Similar ads will begin in Arizona and Oklahoma in the next two weeks and will stay on the air until the Feb. 3 vote in those states.

On Sunday, the Dean campaign will broadcast a 30-minute paid television program in Wisconsin -- which holds its primary Feb. 17 -- designed to encourage people to join Dean’s campaign. If it is successful, Trippi said, the campaign may air similar programs in other states.

“We intend to win Iowa.... We intend to win New Hampshire,” Trippi said, referring to the first nominating contests, held next month. “But this is a 50-state campaign.”

Trippi said the new advertising would cost “several” million dollars, but would not specify the amount.

Dean has been running a more far-flung campaign than his eight opponents, with paid staff in more states and strong organizational efforts outside of Iowa and New Hampshire.

“He is the only candidate who is trying to play virtually everywhere,” said Larry J. Sabato, a University of Virginia political analyst. “The other candidates are doing nothing more than picking favorite states where they think they might be able to win.”

Still, some of Dean’s rivals have insisted that he is not positioned to make a strong showing on Feb. 3, when seven states hold Democratic faceoffs. The other contests occur in Delaware, Missouri and North Dakota.

Many see that day as a turning point in the nomination race. This week, Steve Murphy, campaign manager for Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, called the Feb. 3 contests “Dean’s Achilles’ heel.”

Places such as South Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri and North Dakota “are just not Dean-type states, “ Murphy said in Washington. “He is ahead organizationally in states that come much later ... [But] he’s left a gaping hole on Feb. 3.”

Trippi dismissed such assertions, saying that the campaign recently hired a new South Carolina director and is soon going to expand staff and advertising in Missouri, North Dakota and Delaware.

On Sunday, Dean will make his first trip to South Carolina since he made controversial comments last month about wanting to appeal to Southern voters with Confederate flags on their pickups. He will be accompanied by Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), who is expected to formally endorse Dean.

Dean’s expanding efforts come as his opponents in both parties have increased their attacks on him.

This weekend, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut will air a television commercial in New Hampshire that takes aim at Dean’s decision to seal many of his gubernatorial records.

“Why did Howard Dean seal his records as governor and invoke executive privilege?” Lieberman says in the ad. “We Democrats are better than that.”

This week, a conservative group launched a television ad in Iowa and New Hampshire that compares Dean to past losing Democratic presidential nominees George McGovern and Michael Dukakis. The commercial, paid for by the Club for Growth, said Dean, like other Democrats, would try to raise taxes.

Dean has vowed to roll back the sweeping tax cuts enacted by President Bush, but has also said he would not raise taxes above the levels under President Clinton. His campaign quickly responded to the commercial by vowing to run an ad over the weekend accusing Bush of being behind “negative ads that falsely attack Howard Dean.”

“They’re not trying to stop me; they’re trying to stop you,” Dean says in the commercial, in an appeal to his supporters.

“The more we’re attacked, the more our support grows,” Trippi said.

Times staff writer Nick Anderson contributed to this report.