Kerry passes Bush in poll

CONCORD, N.H. — Sen. John Kerry, riding the wave of popularity from his Iowa caucus win, would now beat President Bush in a head-to-head matchup, according to the latest poll.

Mr. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, has left his rivals far behind in both message and standing in the opinion polls as New Hampshire Democrats and independents prepare to vote Tuesday in the Democratic presidential primary. But Mr. Kerry’s popularity apparently extends beyond just Democrats.

A Newsweek poll taken Jan. 22-23 of 1,006 registered voters nationwide found Mr. Kerry winning 49 percent support in a head-to-head matchup with Mr. Bush, who garnered 46 percent support. That’s a huge shift from just two weeks ago, when the same poll found Mr. Bush garnered 52 percent support to Mr. Kerry’s 41 percent.

Mr. Kerry was full-speed ahead yesterday, telling the crowd at a charity hockey game in Manchester he’ll fight for every vote.

“This is a race to the finish. There’s a lot of work to be done between now and Tuesday evening,” Mr. Kerry said before taking the ice with Boston Bruins defenseman Ray Bourque and others in a game that showcased the 60-year-old candidate’s health more than his skating skills.

Joan Flurey, 55, of Manchester watched as Mr. Kerry glided around the ice in a victory lap, though his team lost the game by a point.

“For a man his age to be out there skating like that really helps answer any questions about his health,” she said. “People forget he had surgery for prostate cancer less than a year ago. And he really played hard out there.”

Mr. Kerry’s closest rival, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, hopes his own downward slide in the polls has ended and he can begin to rebuild for a strong showing Tuesday.

“Things are closing fast,” Mr. Dean said yesterday in Somersworth, N.H. “We can win this. What we are seeing in the last few days is that people who went away from us after we lost Iowa are coming back.”

Mr. Dean has ended advertising runs in several Feb. 3 states in order to concentrate on New Hampshire for the next several days, and he is hoping his organizational strength, relying heavily on young, out-of-state volunteers, can surprise observers Tuesday.

Mr. Dean also criticized the Iowa caucuses, in which he placed third. He told reporters on his campaign bus yesterday that the other campaigns “had their folks really beating up on the people who went in, trying to get them to change their minds in caucus.”

“I think Iowa is going to have to change the way it conducts its caucuses if it wants to continue to be first,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wesley Clark flipped pancakes in Auburn before heading to Portsmouth for a rally with supporters.

“I’m not running to bash George Bush, I’m running to replace him,” Mr. Clark, a former Army general, said, though in making his pitch for how he can recapture patriotism, family values and faith for the Democratic Party, he did plenty of bashing as well.

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