Dean Campaign Chief Quits

By David Paul Kuhn,
CBSNews.com Chief Political Writer

"The campaign feels that my statement yesterday (to The New York Times) is functionally tantamount to a resignation," Grossman said, en route to his home in Boston. "That's the way they see it and I understand politics well enough, having been involved in it for 35 years, that is functionally what took place."

On Monday, The Times reported that if Dean lost in Tuesday's Wisconsin primary, Grossman would throw his support to Democratic front-runner John Kerry – whose campaign Grossman managed during Kerry's hard-fought 1996 senatorial victory. Grossman stands by those comments, saying that he plans to do all he can to elect Kerry, should he be the Democratic nominee.

"I absolutely don't feel betrayed by Steve Grossman," Dean told reporters Monday in La Crosse, Wis., regarding The Times story. "I consider him to be a friend. I consider him to have worked very, very hard for this campaign, including at times when we were not on the map."

Dean reiterated his determination to continue his candidacy regardless of the outcome in Wisconsin. "I haven't had any advisers urge me to step aside and I don't intend to," he said.

Dean's campaign said the former Vermont governor would return to his home state following the race in Wisconsin, where polls show him likely to place a weak second.

"He will look at and access the best way to move forward with his campaign," a Dean campaign adviser said. "Steve's service to the campaign was very appreciated. The governor did not fire him."

A longtime Democratic insider, Grossman was once the chairman of the Democratic National Committee and has known Kerry for 34 years.

"I guess (Grossman) is seeing the writing on the wall and he wants to get in there as most people in the party have a sense of where they think things are going and they want to help Kerry," said Joe Lockhart, a Democratic consultant who was press secretary to President Bill Clinton.

"I think everything changed in Iowa for Howard Dean and this is just the postscript. Certainly, after New Hampshire it was clear that Dean was not going to get the nomination and that's the point where you take a hard look and decide whether you stay in," Lockhart said.

The most recent Zogby/MSNBC/Reuters tracking poll shows Dean trailing Kerry by over 20 points in Wisconsin, 47 percent to 23. Sen. John Edwards is third at 20 percent.

Grossman's departure follows the resignation of Dean's spirited campaign manager Joe Trippi, one day after Dean's disappointing second-place finish in the Jan. 27 New Hampshire primary.

"Despite the fact that I've known Kerry since 1970 and that I co-chaired his campaign in 1996 against Bill Wells, I supported Howard Dean because I saw Howard Dean's political courage, particularly in the civil unions battle in Vermont," Grossman said.

"I'm enormously proud of what Howard Dean has achieved and whether he wins the nomination or not, I believe that Howard Dean has created a movement for voter empowerment and political and social change in the Democratic Party and this country."