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Dr. Dean Goes To Washington

CBS News Reporter Eric Salzman is traveling with the Dean campaign.



Howard Dean looked out on his audience Tuesday night and gave it to them straight. "Well, the votes are starting to come in and we're going to have a tough night tonight," he said.

He does, however, have a plan. It's something of a long shot, but it is a plan.

With primaries and caucuses Tuesday in South Carolina, Arizona, North Dakota, Delaware, New Mexico, Missouri and Oklahoma, Howard Dean went, of all places, to Washington (state, that is).

It's all part of what has been labeled "The Wisconsin Strategy." The Dean campaign, which once wrote off rivals for skipping Iowa, is now hoping the Feb. 3rd primaries won't have much impact after Dean all but gave up on those states. Now, his focus is on Washington and Michigan, which vote on Saturday the 7th. After the field has been withered down to a few serious contenders, Dean hopes to start afresh on the 17th when Wisconsin will be the lone primary.

"We think we'll do well next weekend but the real fight begins for us in Wisconsin and beyond," said campaign spokesman Jay Carson.

Dean has enjoyed enormous support in Washington ever since some 8,000 to 10,000 people turned out to hear him speak during his "Sleepless Summer Tour" last year in Seattle. Still searching for his first win, the governor has been focusing a lot of attention on the state, even adding an extra event the morning of the 4th in an effort to get local coverage two days in a row.

As for the losses on Tuesday, Dean maintains nothing is over. "I don't think there will be any significance to these votes other than the 10 percent of delegates (awarded)," he told reporters Tuesday afternoon. Dean says the real votes are coming on Super Tuesday on March 2.

Operating under the assumption that the front-runner for the nomination is Sen. John Kerry, Dean has been serving up daily critiques of the Massachusetts legislator. On the stump and in press conferences, Dean makes frequent references to a "Washington Post" story citing Kerry as the senator who has accepted the most money from lobbyists in the past 15 years.

"You cannot say you're going to get rid of special interests in Washington if you've taken more money from special interests in Washington in the last 15 years than any other senator," Dean told a crowded Pantages Theater in Tacoma Tuesday night.

The former Vermont governor is hoping by the time the Wisconsin primary rolls around, the glare of the spotlight on Kerry will have had an impact. At that point, Dean hopes to emerge as a viable alternative, much the way Kerry finally emerged as an alternative to the insurgent candidacy of Dean, who led the polls for so many months.

While the campaign hopes for a turnaround in Wisconsin, followed by a surge on Super Tuesday, some success in Michigan or Washington this Saturday wouldn't hurt.

To that end, Dean paid his dues on Tuesday at the Pike Place Market in Seattle. He stopped by the Pike Place Fish Company, famous for its fish tossing. Donned in an apron, Dean stood behind the counter as a local fish-monger tossed a large King Salmon from about 20 feet away. The first one slipped through Dean's fingers. He almost missed the second fish as well, but after a bit of a bobble, he recovered and grabbed it triumphantly by the tail.

Deaniacs may insert their own hopeful analogies here: ___________.

By Eric Salzman

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