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The Morning Grind / DayAhead

'Howard in Howard' travels the 'land of the caucus'

By John Mercurio
CNN Political Editor

What's it worth to you? Here's Howard Dean in Iowa's Worth County, one of the state's 99 counties to receive a visit from the '04 Dem.
What's it worth to you? Here's Howard Dean in Iowa's Worth County, one of the state's 99 counties to receive a visit from the '04 Dem.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iowa is today's most popular early-primary state, at least among the seven '04 Dems still planning to play there.

Three of those Democrats -- "Howard in Howard" Dean (more on that below), John Kerry and John Edwards -- will tour the Hawkeye State today, hawking their wares and eyeing voters released earlier this week by Wesley Clark and Joe Lieberman. (Full story)

Kerry, who will be joined by wife Teresa, and Edwards, who'll be joined there soon by actor-heartthrob Ashton Kutcher, are also there tomorrow. Dean was there yesterday as well.

Dennis Kucinich even got into the Iowa act yesterday. Hoping his progressive campaign will absorb all those Lieberman backers, Kucinich opened a new office in Iowa City and announced that he'll open an office in Ames "soon."

Since Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton don't really do much in the way of campaign travel per se, the only major Dem who's not making an Iowa pitch today is Dick "This Race Will be Won in the Midwest" Gephardt, and he'll be in Des Moines and western Iowa on Friday and Saturday.

Aides say all these Iowa trips had been scheduled before Lieberman and Clark announced their Iowa surrender last weekend. But with that shakeup as a backdrop to their timely visits, look for all four Democrats to showcase their Iowa muscle and remind Iowa voters that they're relevant.

Once again, the '04 Dem with the most uncanny gift of good timing is Dean, who today just happens to be the first presidential candidate to visit all 99 counties in Iowa -- not a small feat, or everyone would have done it by now.

As if that weren't enough good fortune for Dean, he'll end his tour at 8 p.m. EDT in Cresco, Iowa.

'Howard in Howard'

And where is Cresco? It's in Howard County, of course. So Howard's in Howard for his big Iowa moment. You can see where this is going.

But just in case you can't, some of Dean's more inspired aides have crafted what they're billing as a "fairy tale" on Howard Dean. The jaunty tale, "Doctor Dean Goes to Iowa," chronicles the good doctor's adventures across "the land of the caucus" this year. It's seriously a must-read. Well, not so seriously, but definitely a must-read.

"There once was a doctor named Howard. Long ago before he was people-powered, he diagnosed the nation and saw great frustration, so he set out to heal what he could," the narrator (this is not a joke) says, according to an advance copy of the fairy tale obtained by the Grind.

"He traveled to Iowa, the land of the Caucus, and began a run for the White House. Back in February '02, Dean met Counties Johnson and Linn, he's now been back again and again."

Other favorite lines: "The crowds kept listening and cheering and growing. The Doctor listening, expanding his knowing. Wherever he went he was a 'must see' and the state was abuzz -- even state GOP!"

Dean also started airing a new TV ad in Iowa yesterday that challenges his rivals on prescription drugs. "Seniors today are getting clobbered by prescription drug costs," said Gov. Dean. "But instead of fixing the problem, the best my opponents can do is talk about what was said eight years ago."

Others on the road

• In the Dean-inspired race to touch down in every Iowa county, Gephardt takes second place. Aides say he will have been to 70 counties by October 31.

• Edwards campaign spokeswoman Kim Rubey said her boss, who has been in Iowa every week this month, will have traveled to 61 Iowa counties by that time. After his two-day swing this week, Edwards will have hit 55 counties.

This week, Edwards will visit Pottawattamie, Montgomery, Union, Clarke, Lucas, Appanoose and Monroe counties.

• John Norris, who's running Kerry's Iowa campaign, said the senator has been to about 44 counties that make up roughly 80 percent of the caucus vote. "That's just by eyeballing it, I may be off by one," Norris told the Grind. "Hasn't been something we've been focused on."

Indeed, Norris didn't have much interest in counting counties or touting the big-name endorsements Kerry has received in Iowa. "We haven't played that game where you roll out a list of your supporters every time you're in town," he said.

So after all the counties have been visited and local endorsements snapped up, the question remains -- who's going to win Iowa?

And after all the polls are sifted through and consultants consulted, our answer is still the same: We have no idea. Stay tuned.

The 'sorry group'

In our thoroughly unsuccessful effort to provide equal time and/or space to both parties in the '04 presidential campaign, we note that CNN's Larry King tonight will interview Barbara Bush, and we hope she'll elaborate on her recent description of the '04 Dem field as a "sorry group." (Full story)


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