Kerry's Rivals Look South

John Kerry's chief rivals are all but ceding three weekend elections to the Democratic front-runner, hoping instead that their Southern roots will help them out in next week's contests in Tennessee and Virginia.

Michigan and Washington state hold caucuses Saturday, and Maine comes a
day later for a total of 224 pledged delegates — nearly as many as were at stake in Tuesday's seven state elections.

Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and retired Gen. Wesley Clark, a
native of Arkansas, do not plan to visit the weekend states, where their strategists believe Kerry will dominate.

Instead, they're pointing their cash-strapped campaigns south, gambling that they can survive to fight Kerry in Wisconsin Feb. 17. A third challenger, Howard Dean, also had his sights set on a Wisconsin showdown.

The odds are stacked against all three. In a war of attrition, Kerry has the most allies, the longest supply lines and weakened adversaries.

"Without money, you can't have the troops. Without troops, you can't compete. How can you compete with a guy who can write himself a check for ads in California?" said Michigan pollster Ed Sarpolus.

Clark, Edwards and Dean hope to rise out of Wisconsin as the only alternative to Kerry when the race turns to contests in California, New York and eight other "Super Tuesday" states March 2.

Two officials close to Clark, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the retired Army general considered dropping out of the race Tuesday night after scoring a single victory, a nail-biter in Oklahoma. They said his wife, Gert, helped talk him into staying in the race against the advice of some backers.

In another sign of trouble, Clark's staff agreed to a pay freeze to pay for television ads.

The hopes of Edwards, Clark and Dean hinged on two matters that were out of their control — Kerry's performance and his past. A plodding and imperfect campaigner, the Massachusetts senator could make a mistake or be scorched under the spotlight cast upon his nearly 20-year record in the Senate.

To that end, the challengers are trumpeting media reports about Kerry's ties to special interests and lobbyists.

"If we're going to have a president who's not a Washington insider, who knows the changes that need to take place in Washington to change America, I need to be the president," Edwards told CNN the day after he won South Carolina to keep his candidacy alive.

Dean suggested that "it'll be more of the same" if Kerry replaces President Bush in the White House. Clark criticized both Kerry and Edwards, faulting them for complaining about White House policies that they had backed in the Senate.

Kerry won five states and the lion's share of the delegates Tuesday, taking command of the race. Of the 269 delegates up for grabs, Kerry won 144, Edwards 66, Clark 50, Dean seven and Al Sharpton two.

According to a CBS News delegate count, the results pushed Kerry's total to 255 out of the 2,162 needed for the nomination. Dean was next with 156, followed by Edwards at 111, Clark at 96 and Lieberman at 25. Rev. Al Sharpton had 4 and Dennis Kucinich 2.

According to CBS News exit polls in five states, Kerry's perceived viability against President Bush in November continued to be his strong suit.

Republican operatives, looking ahead to a Bush-Kerry matchup, are trying to paint the Massachusetts senator as an establishment liberal. Kerry told CBS News Anchor Dan Rather that his record trumps that label.

"I think that the American people want experience. I think they want somebody who can actually show a 35-year record of fighting against powerful interests," Kerry said.

After campaigning Tuesday in Washington state, Kerry was spending Wednesday off the campaign trail, his first day off since New Year's Day, reports CBS News' Steve Chaggaris. He heads later in the week to Maine and Michigan.

In Michigan, where 128 delegates are at stake, polls show Kerry leading Edwards and Dean by more than 40 percentage points. He also has the endorsement of Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

There are no public polls in Washington state and Maine, but strategists for all four campaigns said Kerry should win easily. Kerry's internal polls show him safely leading in both states, sources close to the senator said.

Dean's strategists hold out a glimmer of hope because Washington has a history of backing underdogs and Maine has a small, unpredictable Democratic voting base.

To the dismay of his senior advisers, Dean raised expectations Wednesday. "We are going to win the Washington caucuses," he said in Seattle.

One top adviser to the former Vermont governor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Dean will regret the remark when he loses. Another aide, when told of Dean's comment, wrote it off as an example of his boss' lack of discipline.

Dean, winless in nine elections, may soon come under pressure to end his campaign.

Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe has said any candidate who failed to win a state by the first week in February should assess their candidacy. Will he ask Dean to go?

"No," the chairman said Wednesday. "Howard's going to make up his own mind."