Dean Plays Up His Rural Resume

Howard Dean highlighted his rural credentials Friday as he stumped through this snow-glazed state, insisting he will soldier on even if he loses the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday.

“There’s an enormous amount of people who do want to continue,” said Dean, standing in a musty barn after touring a 260-acre dairy farm in the state’s northwest. “Now, whether it’s enough to win the nomination, we’ll have to see.”

But Dean was vague about what kind of campaign he would wage if he failed to win Wisconsin, a state he had once said he needed to win to continue his candidacy for the Democratic nomination.

The former Vermont governor said he planned to return home after the Tuesday vote to reassess his strategy before upcoming primaries and caucuses, which include contests in California, New York, Ohio and seven other states on March 2.

“I’m going to go back to Burlington and kind of regroup and figure out how to tackle 10 of the biggest states in the country at the same time,” he said, referring to the March 2 votes.

The latest polls in Wisconsin have shown him running far behind Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and in a potentially close fight with Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina for second place.

But Dean dismissed questions about whether his once-high-flying campaign was coming to an end, saying he still hoped that Wisconsin voters would deal a defeat to Kerry, the Democratic front-runner.

“The media and the polls have already decided John Kerry is going to be the nominee of the Democratic Party,” he said during an economic round table at Lakeshore Technical College in Cleveland.

“Well, you know, obviously, I think that’s a mistake or I wouldn’t be here,” he added.

To that end, Dean has virtually camped out in Wisconsin during the last week, asking voters to help reignite his candidacy.

He has tried to make stops in as many of Wisconsin’s media markets as he can this week, using a bus or chartered plane to cross the wide state.

And the campaign has showcased him in different environments: schools on Wednesday, health centers on Thursday.

On Friday, the candidate donned jeans, boots and a persimmon-orange down parka as he tramped around a dairy farm in Durand owned by Don and Shelly Anibas, who produce parmesan and romano cheese from their 50 Holsteins.

“This reminds me of Vermont -- a lot of small farms just like you,” Dean told Don Anibas as they walked across the icy farmyard. “Our average farm is about 75 milkers.”

Dean played up his rural credentials, referring to his traveling press corps as “city slickers” and warning them not to step in a manure trench.

“I bet these people don’t even know what a hundredweight is,” Dean said, referring to the term for a 100-pound container of milk.

Later, standing in the barn in front of several bales of hay and a green tractor, Dean called for a national plan that would guarantee a minimum price for dairy products.

“American consumers are happy to pay a few extra pennies for a gallon of milk or a little cheese in order to make sure that family farmers stay in business,” he said.

In Eau Claire, Dean asked several hundred people gathered at a theater to see him as one of them.

“All through rural America, we’re struggling as jobs are leaving,” he said. “Our kids are our biggest export.... My state is not so different than yours.”