As Dean's hopes fade, Democrats wonder about supporters' votes [View All]

[maddezmom]

By Thomas Fitzgerald

Knight Ridder Newspapers



SUPERIOR, Wis. - Janice Ward believes. She went to Iowa to knock on doors for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and drew 12 people to a meet-up she put together at the Eagles Lodge in Marcell, Minn., near her home deep in the Chippewa National Forest.


Last week, Ward drove 120 miles on rural highways to attend a rally in Wisconsin for Dean, who's staking his comeback hopes on winning Tuesday's Wisconsin primary.


"I won't vote for anybody else," said Ward, 53. "If he doesn't get in, I'm a disenfranchised voter. You have to vote for what you believe in."


That sentiment crops up often at rallies as Dean enters what could be the final days of his once high-flying campaign for president. He's lost 16 contests in a row, and polls show that he trails the front-runner, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, by margins of as much as 5 to 1 in Wisconsin.


But Dean has built a passionate base of believers, many of them new to politics, and some Democrats are wondering what those believers might do if Dean leaves the race. If enough of these "Deaniacs" sit on their hands in the fall, that would make it harder for Democrats to topple President Bush.

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