Kerry Takes New Hampshire; Dean Finishes Distant Second

Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts romped to victory Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary, making him the clear Democratic frontrunner as the presidential contest enters a new, more intensive phase of cross-country campaigning.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean finished a far-off second, a dramatic reversal of fortunes for the two candidates who, in the course of just eight days, swapped places in the nominating fight.

In the weeks before Kerry’s surprise victory in the Iowa caucuses, many analysts had all but buried his campaign

“He had dirt on his body. He had dirt on his face,” said Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist watching the race from the sidelines. “Now he’s come back to life ... and he’s sitting comfortably in the driver’s seat.”

Retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark of Arkansas, who’s been campaigning almost exclusively in New Hampshire, and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina were essentially tied for third place, with just a few hundred votes separating them. Both had counted on a strong finish here to propel them into Tuesday’s South Carolina primary, the first to take place in the region both men call home.

Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who moved to New Hampshire to campaign full time in the state, finished fifth -- though he called it “a three-way split decision for third place.”

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York trailed far behind.

In Manchester, a delighted Kerry celebrated his victory at a raucous rally downtown. “I love New Hampshire, and I love Iowa, too,” Kerry said to a roar from the crowd. “And I hope with your help to have the blessings and the opportunity to love a lot of other states in the days to come.”

Dean, struggling to recover from a discouraging third-place showing in Iowa and his widely ridiculed speech afterward, now faces an even stiffer challenge as the race shifts from his native New England to the South and West.

He pronounced himself “very pleased” with the outcome, even though polls taken earlier this month gave him a comfortable lead in New Hampshire.

“It was Iowa that did it,” Dean said on CNN on Tuesday night. “I was pleased to recover.... We’d been knocked down pretty hard by everybody while we were the frontrunner, and we’re not the frontrunner anymore.”

More than 208,000 votes were cast in New Hampshire, a record for a Democratic primary, as a predicted election day snowstorm failed to materialize.

But the biggest surprise Tuesday may have been the absence of any big surprise in a state with a history of upending expectations. A battery of pre-election polls suggested a big Kerry win, a second-place finish for Dean and a close fight for third place. All proved true.

With 97% percent of precincts reporting, Kerry had 39% of the vote, Dean had 26%, Clark 12%, Edwards 12%, Lieberman 9%, Kucinich 2% and Sharpton less than 1%.

The one-two finish of Kerry and Dean neatly framed the choice that now awaits Democrats across the country.

Kerry won among voters who cited experience and leadership as their top priorities, while Dean prevailed among New Hampshirites who wanted change and a candidate who offered new ideas, according to a Los Angeles Times exit poll.

“I have spent my whole life fighting against powerful interests -- and I’ve only just begun to fight,” Kerry, a four-term senator, said in declaring victory Tuesday night.

“I have a message for the influence peddlers, for the polluters, the HMOs, the drug companies, big oil and all the special interests who now call the White House home: We’re coming. You’re going. And don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” he said.

Dean, a neighbor to the west, had lavished enormous time and effort on New Hampshire, where voters expect an abundance of one-on-one attention. As he climbed into the lead in national surveys last fall, he soared even higher here; less than a month ago, Dean enjoyed a 25-point lead in New Hampshire polls.

Kerry, the neighbor to the south, paid some attention to New Hampshire, but never as much as his New England rival, and his support here waned as Dean’s grew. At one point, opinion surveys even showed Kerry slipping behind Clark, the former NATO commander who camped out in New Hampshire for more than a month in his first run for public office.

There was staff upheaval at Kerry headquarters and money dried up, forcing him to mortgage his Boston mansion to keep his campaign afloat. Desperate, he turned his sights to the Midwest, staking his entire effort on a strong Iowa showing. The gamble paid off brilliantly, with a surprise victory that changed Kerry’s standing here literally overnight.

Suddenly, he was the frontrunner -- soaring in opinion polls -- and Dean was in peril.

Reflecting his new status, Kerry campaigned with caution. He rejected the frontrunner label, but behaved like one. He rolled out big endorsements and for the most part sought to ignore his rivals, sticking to attacks on Bush and a vow to rout special interests from Washington.

Although obviously fatigued, he continued with the marathon campaign style that worked so well in Iowa, riding a helicopter to squeeze in extra stops and lingering until he could answer every questioner in the crowd.

All the while, Dean became a more subdued candidate.

Gone was the fiery insurgent who took on President Bush over the war in Iraq and his Democratic opponents for going along. His fevered concession speech -- and the doubts it raised about his temperament -- chastened Dean, who tried various tacks to right his listing campaign.

He shunned “red-meat rhetoric.” He cast himself as a reformer and successful statehouse executive, appeared on prime-time television with his camera-shy wife, Judy, and stumped with her standing by his side.

He demonstrated an ability to laugh at himself. “I am so excited to be here,” Dean would tell audiences, with a sly smile. “I could just scream.”

By the eve of the primary, Dean appeared to be much more like his old self, attacking Kerry for voting for a resolution that gave Bush permission to go to war in Iraq and questioning his judgment on foreign policy. The Massachusetts senator, meanwhile, finally abandoned his frontrunner’s mien to respond, his annoyance showing early Tuesday, when he fired back on NBC’s “Today” show.

“I vote my conscience,” said Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran. “Unlike Howard Dean, I’ve fought in a war and I know the responsibilities of commander in chief, of how you send young men and women off to war.”

Edwards largely steered clear of the tussling, much as he did in Iowa, where his determinedly upbeat message powered him to a surprise second-place finish. He, too, enjoyed a burst of momentum, climbing in New Hampshire polls and drawing crowds so large that the fire marshal sometimes threatened to close down the events.

Still, Edwards strategists suggested his post-Iowa “bounce” might have been bigger if not for all the attention devoted to Dean, his concession speech and his comeback fight. The candidate appeared subdued Tuesday night, but insisted he was pleased with his showing.

“Just a week or 10 days ago, we were in midsingle digits here, and we’re clearly moving up. It’s very encouraging,” Edwards told reporters in his hotel suite in Merrimack shortly before the polls closed. “Obviously, I’m from outside New England and this would be a very tough place for me ... I feel very good about it.”

Clark was another candidate who watched his support wane as New Hampshire effectively turned into a Kerry-Dean battle.

The retired general had enjoyed a surge in polls when he had the state largely to himself. But as attention shifted from Iowa to New Hampshire, so too did scrutiny of Clark. He came under attack for his relatively recent allegiance to the Democratic Party -- opponents gibed that upon leaving the Army, Clark registered as a Washington lobbyist before registering as a Democrat.

And the rookie candidate wasted several days defending filmmaker Michael Moore before repudiating Moore’s assertion that Bush was a “deserter.” Moore, who endorsed Clark, was apparently referring to time Bush spent campaigning for Republican candidates during his Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard.

By election day, Clark was already looking past New Hampshire. He left the state Tuesday to start campaigning in South Carolina, where Clark hoped a state with a strong military tradition would look more kindly on a fellow Southerner.

“We’re heading South,” he told supporters Tuesday night. “We’re heading West. And we ain’t slowin’ down until the final buzzer sounds.”

Lieberman had also staked much on New Hampshire. Like Clark, he ignored Iowa and campaigned exclusively in the first primary state, renting an apartment in downtown Manchester and moving his wife and much of his staff here. But his campaign never showed much life.

His staunch support for the war in Iraq and heretical stance on issues like experimental school vouchers, which he backed, were anathema to many liberal activists who hold sway in the Democratic nominating process.

“Today, the people of New Hampshire put me in the ring, and that’s where we’re going to stay,” he told a ballroom full of supporters chanting, “Let’s go, Joe.”

Others were dubious.

“I’m not sure he’ll be able to raise 10 cents after this poor, fifth-place showing,” said Charles Cook, an independent Washington elections analyst. “One more good week and this nomination will belong to Kerry.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

New Hampshire results

John F. Kerry: 39%

Howard Dean: 26%

Wesley K. Clark: 12%

John Edwards: 12%

Joe Lieberman: 9%

Dennis J. Kucinich: 2%

Note: Results are with 97% of the precincts reporting. Al Sharpton, who focused his campaign on South Carolina, received less than 1% of the vote.

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Times staff writer Faye Fiore and Times staff researcher Susannah Rosenblatt contributed to this report