Kerry Keeps Winning

Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry scored victories east and west Saturday, swamping his rivals in Nevada and the District of Columbia caucuses to build his advantage in delegates needed for the nomination. His opponents pinned their hopes on the coming Wisconsin primary to try to slow him down.

Kerry, the only candidate to campaign in Nevada, easily outdistanced Howard Dean in second place, for a Valentine's Day win that unexpectedly drew thousands of people to the party's meetings and surprised officials who saw far less enthusiasm four years ago.

Kerry more than doubled his nearest opponent, Al Sharpton, in the D.C. race.

The candidates converged in Wisconsin, for a party fund-raising dinner Saturday night and a debate Sunday in Milwaukee. Tuesday's primary might be a last stand for Howard Dean, the one-time presumptive favorite winless in the string of 2004 contests. John Edwards, who won in his native South Carolina, spoke of his determination to press on into March.

Dean prevailed in a D.C. vote last month, before his fortunes sank nationally, but the primary was held to protest the district's lack of voting representation in Congress and did not count.

Going into the Saturday caucuses, a CBS News tally found that Kerry has claimed 572 delegates, compared to 218 for Dean and 188 for Edwards. The totals include so-called superdelegates. It takes 2,161 delegates to win the become the Democratic nominee.

Even as the nomination fight pressed forward, there was a sense of a larger battle shaping up - the one in the fall between President Bush and the Democratic standard-bearer.

The 13-million-member AFL-CIO, slow to side with a candidate when a true competition is going on, plans to endorse Kerry soon, a sign that a linchpin of the Democratic Party considers the nomination all but settled.

The Bush campaign, making Kerry the sole target, distributed an attack video linking the four-term Massachusetts senator to special interests. The Internet launch limited the video's audience, but the attention surrounding it magnified its impact.

Kerry treated the assault as more evidence that Republicans view him as the front-runner, arguing dismissively: "These guys will try to do anything to change the subject."

The Democrats plunged into the final weekend before the Wisconsin primary with both Dean and Edwards hungry for a win to revive their campaigns. Polls offered them little hope.

More evidence of the Kerry steamroller: CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts says nationwide, there's less talk about whether Kerry will win their nod than there is about who his running mate will be.

"Most years, it would be way too premature for any candidate to talk about a running mate this early, Pitts says. "But this presidential race is different.

Much of the speculation has been swirling around current rival John Edwards and former competitor and new Kerry endorser Wesley Clark. Others on the "mentioned" list: Rep. Dick Gephardt, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and, from the Senate, Bob Graham of Florida and Evan Bayh of Indiana.

Still, at a breakfast sponsored by black ministers Saturday, Dean showed no signs of discouragement. To an audience of more than 200, he said he had bolstered his campaign by turning to traditional Democratic voters.

"We're going to start with the African-American community," he said. "We're going to start with women.

"I'm tired of being divided in this country ... by race, by gender, by income or by religion."

Dean brought two guests to the breakfast, black roommates from his university days at Yale. One, Atlanta attorney Don Roman, sang a hymn to the group that asked: "Why should I feel discouraged?"

Dean once said it would be over if he lost Wisconsin but later modified that position to hold out the possibility he might press on. In his latest version, Dean said he simply didn't know what would happen to his campaign if he lost.

Edwards, who stopped in California to raise money before flying to Wisconsin, said he's pushing forward.

He is diverting repeatedly from campaigning to raise cash, and aides said he was flush enough to continue. They said Edwards has raised $3.3 million since finishing second in Iowa's leadoff caucuses.

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who has finished in the low single digits in most contests, rallied 200 people in Green Bay, north of Milwaukee. He took jabs at multilateral U.S. trade agreements, promised to provide universal health care and said: "I'm the only person running for president who has a plan to bring our troops home" from Iraq.