Dean takes gentler tack
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MANCHESTER, N.H.With his presidential dream struggling for oxygen, Howard Dean has returned to his tough anti-war stance, the position that first fuelled his run from obscurity in the Democratic presidential race.
The former Vermont governor mounted a stout defence of his foreign policy credentials at a lunch-time rally here yesterday, taking aim at Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and North Carolina Senator John Edwards, the two men who could inflict mortal damage to Dean today.
Gone was the firebrand, angry Dean. He never raised his voice, he never rallied the troops with his trademark call to "take back our country," he never told them "they had the power."
The subdued, professorial Dean is the latest incarnation of a man who cannot afford a poor showing here today when Democrats hold their first statewide primary.
"We're closing," he told supporters. "Whether we can close all the way is up to you."
Kerry holds a healthy lead over Dean in most major polls released on the eve of today's vote, but at least one poll shows the former Vermont governor is within striking distance of the man who soared to victory in last week's Iowa caucus vote...