Quotes of the Day

After finishing a speech in tiny Wausua, Wisconsin yesterday, Howard Dean called out "does anybody else have a microphone?" One aide raised up a microphone she was holding. "Anybody else? Just one?" he asked. "Just me," the young woman quietly said, and then spent the next 10 minutes darting past chairs and over legs to reach questioners.  

When the former Vermont Governor drew crowds of hundreds spilling out of gyms and community centers, several volunteers holding mikes would spread throughout the room, so no one would have too long of a trek if a person in the back corner had a question. But the glory days of Howard Dean's campaign are over. He's still drawing pretty large crowds, with a thousand piling into a theater in Madison last night to hear what might be his final rally as a candidate, energizing Dean to the point where he was shouting "you have the power" as he used to months ago. But the signs of the Dean Death Watch are all around. On Sunday, campaign chairman Steve Grossman said he would leave the campaign if Dean didn't win on Tuesday in Wisconsin, essentially trying to force his candidate out of the race and leaving aides scrambling. Lower-lowel Dean staffers are talking openly about their career and vacation plans after the campaign ends. Reporters are repeatedly questioning Dean on when he will get out of the race.  

Dean's fervent supporters know the end is coming too. Several times during the day, when Dean took questions, people talked about how much they liked the campaign, but would then ask what he would do to continue his movement if he lost. In Madison, the man who introduced Dean said, "you know what, we have already won, always remember that" reflecting the view of both Dean and his supporters than even if Dean does not win the nomination, he's brought a sharp anti-Bush message to the race that the other Democratic candidates have adopted. The biggest applause line throughout the day was when Dean would say "if one of the other candidates wins the nomination, believe me I'm going to support them, because anybody is better than George W. Bush."  

While continuing to say he will stay in the race after Tuesday, Dean is beginning to write his valedictory. He repeated said his campaign had "put some spine into this party." In Madison, he said "We started out this campaign wanting to change America. We have. We have already written the Democratic party platform." He talked about how his candidacy had "started out with the people that brought us to the dance" by focusing on the Democratic base of women, minorities and labor unions. Usually, he says the first thing he would do as president would be to revoke any executive order Bush had signed on the environment, but last night he said "the first thing anyone can do is undo every executive order this president has ever passed," seeming to realize that "anyone" as the next president might not be Dean.  

After the rally in Madison, Russell Wallace, a 45-year-old Madison engineer, was chatting with another member of their Dean meet-up group about what they would do next, after spending months organizing for Dean in the area. When the subject turned to John Kerry, Wallace couldn't hold back his contempt. "Kerry doesn't excite us," Wallace said. "I don't know anybody that's excited by Kerry. The guy is boring." But Wallace, like many other Dean supporters and the candidate himself, now seems to to be setting his eyes on the prize. He said he might not volunteer for Kerry, but would spend time trying to convince his Republican friends not to vote for Bush.

• Perry Bacon Jr.
• Perry Bacon reports from Wisconsin on Howard Dean's last stand