Pumped-up Kerry, calm Dean warm up for next bout in N.H.

From combined dispatches

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Fresh from an upset victory in the first test of the Democratic presidential campaign, Sen. John Kerry barreled into New Hampshire yesterday and promptly proclaimed himself the underdog in next week’s first-in-the-nation primary.

Still, Mr. Kerry said fellow New Englander Howard Dean can be beaten in the state, despite leading in the polls. “Well, obviously, we proved that in Iowa,” said the senator from Massachusetts.

Across town, Mr. Dean toned down his “red meat” rhetoric, hoping to offset a stunning loss in Monday’s Iowa caucuses with a more subdued campaign here in his bid to challenge President Bush in November’s election.

“Today, I am going to give a different kind of speech,” Mr. Dean told supporters. “Those of you who came here intending to be lifted by … a lot of red-meat rhetoric are going to be a little disappointed.”

Mr. Dean barely raised his voice as he attacked Mr. Bush for going to war with Iraq, accusing him of losing 3 million jobs, failing to provide health insurance to all Americans and running up huge deficits.

Iowans apparently rejected the hard-edged anti-Iraq war rhetoric and anti-establishment message of the one-time front-runner Mr. Dean, who finished a distant third, in favor of two Washington insiders, first-place finisher Mr. Kerry and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. Surveys showed voters were more concerned with jobs and health care than the Iraq war.

In the first blush after Iowa’s caucuses, the candidates avoided going after each other by name — although that could change on a dime as they pursue Tuesday’s primary and a seven-state contest, including the candidates’ first test in the South in South Carolina, seven days later.

Instead, they gingerly shadowboxed.

Mr. Kerry, a four-term senator, talked up his service and said he would draw that distinction against his rivals, including political newcomer Wesley Clark and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, both of whom skipped the caucuses.

“I also have the experience to make America safer and stronger in the world during a very dangerous time, and I think people want a steady, tested hand at the helm of state,” Mr. Kerry said. “I can provide that.”

Countered Mr. Edwards: “We need a leader who hasn’t spent their whole life in politics, a leader who knows what it’s like out here in the real world.”

Iowa propelled Mr. Edwards from a nearly second-tier candidate to a strong second-place finisher, and he was pumped.

“It’s a huge boost,” he said. “It’s like a fire spreading over Iowa over the last two weeks, and to finish the way we did was extraordinary.”

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