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Howard Dean said today that he was abandoning his bid for the White House but would remain a presence on the political landscape to challenge the Republicans and continue to foster the grass-roots Democratic political activity that his campaign inspired. "I am no longer actively pursuing the presidency," Dr. Dean said in a televised speech from Burlington, Vt., where he had returned after finishing a distant third in the Wisconsin Democratic primary on Tuesday. "We will, however, continue to build a new organization using our enormous grass-roots network to continue the effort to transform the Democratic Party and to change...

Contrary to what he said in Wisconsin, Howard Dean is done. I've been following him for over a decade. His state is essentially my commuter route from New Hampshire to Quebec, so I know him well. But I first wrote about his Presidential campaign in The Spectator of July 5th last year in a column headlined… Tomorrow He'll Be Yesterday's Man And so he is. The amazing meltdown — from Mister Inevitable to forgotten footnote — in less than a month will be studied by political consultants for years. But, to those of us who've followed him for a decade, it never seemed...

Howard Dean returned home to Burlington, Vermont, early on Wednesday carrying a decision to quit his presidential campaign but remain in the race for the nomination, the Los Angeles Times reported in Wednesday's editions. "Though Dean is not going to formally drop out of the race, he is going to stop campaigning," a Dean aide told the newspaper. "The move would allow his supporters to continue to vote for him in the upcoming primaries and have a say at the Democratic National Convention in July," The Times reported.

<p>WAUSAU, Wis. — Merchandisers who scored big by hawking wares relating to Howard Dean's insurgent candidacy could face difficult times if their moneymaker drops out of the race.</p> <p>Two companies — Parody Productions (search), which produces a deck of cards in which Dean is the high, low and trump cards, and Playpolitics.org, which manufactures Deanie Babies, small silk-screened beanbags with Dean's image — recognize that the Wisconsin race could change their business landscapes.</p>

The grace to leave Howard Dean's presidential aspirations have come full circle. He is exactly where he was a year ago -- trailing badly in the polls and with little money to conduct a nationwide campaign. But what a year it has been. From an obscure former New England governor to the momentary favorite to capture the Democratic nomination, Dean has experienced the full sweep of presidential politics -- the exulting highs and the crashing lows. It's over. Dean will not be elected president in 2004. After the hurrahs, the speeches, the debates, the media confrontations, Dean should exit...

Howard Dean is facing his Waterloo in Wisconsin Tuesday, even though he is still in denial about it. Dean's campaign has melted down since his shock third place finish in the Iowa caucuses four weeks ago. But now it is in a state of chaos and confusion such as few supposedly serious presidential campaigns have ever seen in U.S. history. After failing to win a single one of the 16 Democratic primary and caucus contests so far, Dean has continued to maintain against a Niagara of cascading evidence to the contrary that he can still pull off some kind of...

Dean's Campaign Chairman Departs 4 minutes ago By ROSS SNEYD, Associated Press Writer LA CROSSE, Wis. - Struggling Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean (news - web sites) revealed Monday that national campaign chairman Steve Grossman has departed, but the former Vermont governor would not disclose the circumstances surrounding the change. Election 2004 At an appearance here on the eve of the Wisconsin primary, Dean said Grossman was no longer with his campaign. "I absolutely don't feel betrayed by Grossman. I consider him to be a friend," Dean said, without elaborating. A defiant Dean had said earlier that he would remain...

Just heard it on the radio - Howard dean announced in LaCrosse, Wisconsin that his campaign chairman has quit his campaign - one day before the Wisconsin primary.

MILWAUKEE, Feb. 15 — The chairman of Howard Dean's presidential campaign said on Sunday that he would leave and shift his support to Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts if Dr. Dean loses the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday, an outcome he sees as all but inevitable. "If Howard Dean does not win the Wisconsin primary, I will reach out to John Kerry unless he reaches out to me first," said the chairman, Steven Grossman, who was chairman of Mr. Kerry's 1996 Senate race. "I will make it clear that I will do anything and everything I can to help him become...

Dean to Advisers: 'We Are Not Bowing Out' 23 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo! By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer WASHINGTON - Howard Dean (news - web sites)'s top advisers are urging him to abandon the Democratic presidential race if he loses Wisconsin's primary, officials said Sunday, but the former Vermont governor asserted, "We are not bowing out." Dean, winless in 16 contests and badly trailing in Wisconsin polls, said in an interview with The Associated Press, "In fact, we are staying in the race. The forum we will use to stay in the race...

RACINE, Wis. (Reuters) - Democrat Howard Dean (news - web sites) faced scores of empty chairs in a half-empty hall on Saturday as he neared an anticipated defeat in Wisconsin's primary next week that could end his White House hopes. In stark contrast to the massive crowds and stand-up passion he generated just months ago as the party's front-runner, the fading anti-war, anti-Washington maverick drew only a few hundred people who remained in their seats and applauded politely. One of the biggest applause lines came when Bob Nemanich, an executive recruiter and local school board candidate, rose and told the...

<p>RACINE, Wis. -- Howard Dean has been urging voters all across Wisconsin to give him the victory he needs to keep his campaign alive even as members of his staff have been exploring how he might get out of the race.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean (news - web sites), the one-time front-runner in the bid to take on President Bush (news - web sites), denied on Sunday that top aides were planning to leave his campaign after critical voting in Wisconsin on Tuesday. "Nobody's told me that," Dean told "Fox News Sunday." "So you know news is entertainment these days, and you can believe some of it but not all of it. And I have no knowledge if that's true." Fox reported that several unnamed top aides had informed the campaign they were going to leave Vermont...

WASHINGTON - Howard Dean is preparing to abandon his race for the Democratic presidential nomination if he loses Wisconsin's primary, several advisers said Sunday, despite the candidate's assertions to the contrary. Steve Grossman, national chairman of Dean's campaign, said the former Vermont governor will seek to convert his grass-roots network into a movement that helps expand the party and elect the Democratic nominee - "and, obviously, that looks likely to be John Kerry." The sentiments were echoed by other high-ranking campaign officials, though they differed on how much - if any - direct help Dean would be willing to give...

<p>Madison, Wis. -- It seems a lifetime ago, rather than just a few weeks in the supersonic-speed Democratic primary season, that Howard Dean's once high- flying Internet campaign for president came crashing down to earth, like such other onetime Internet stars as EToys and Webvan.</p>

<p>Howard Dean went into the Iowa caucuses riding high as the front-running Democratic presidential candidate, with a battle plan designed to take that state and set him on a course for winning those that followed.</p> <p>The plan put in motion a flurry of handwritten letters and a blizzard of door-knocking volunteers to convince Iowa Democratic voters that Dean was the person to take on President George W. Bush this fall.</p>

It has been remarkable to watch the unrelenting assault on Howard Dean in recent weeks, and particularly in the days between the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Let me say up-front that I have a conflict of interest where Howard Dean is concerned. My parents were raised in Vermont and until a couple of years ago, I had spent at least a week there every summer of my life. It is a place made for reverie: the beautiful Green Mountains, clear brooks and streams, the impressive Lake Champlain, small villages that look like postcards, and a local culture...

The Massachusetts senator leads Dean 31 percent to 21 percent, with a slipping Wesley K. Clark at 16 percent after skipping the Iowa caucuses. Sen. John Edwards is in fourth place with 11 percent, followed by Sen. Joseph Lieberman with 4 percent. Rev. Al Sharpton and Rep. Dennis Kucinich continue to barely register. Herald pollster R. Kelly Myers called it a ``dramatic turn-around for John Kerry.'' ``His once fledgling campaign has found new legs and he now finds himself the clear front-runner in this race,'' Myers said. The poll, of 501 likely Democratic primary voters, was taken by RKM Research...

<p>One way to look at life is that we're all waiting. You're born, you grow into the autonomy of adulthood, and then you have to find a way to pass your time until a) you enter your real life, the one that never ends and is full of joy, or b) you enter the meaningless black void that is death and the silence of the tomb. The trick lies in finding a way to spend your time that is pleasurable, satisfying and honorable. What does this have to do with political prognostication? I really don't know. I just know that political pundits have chosen, as their way to spend the heart of their adult years, gathering the latest facts on and trying to explain politics.</p>