The Associated Press

Their campaigns jolted by upsets in Iowa, Democratic
presidential candidates sparred over each others’ experience
and electability yesterday in a race suddenly lacking a
front-runner or form.

“I am an underdog in New Hampshire,” John Kerry said
in words echoed by Howard Dean as the volatile campaign moved
eastward. A day earlier in Iowa, Kerry and John Edwards blew the
campaign wide open with a one-two caucus finish, stripping a
humbled Dean of his front-runner’s mantle.

As Rep. Dick Gephardt exited the race, his fourth-place finish a
political death knell, the remaining major candidates adjusted
their strategies for a weeklong sprint to New Hampshire’s
Jan. 27 primary and a seven-state contest seven days later.

“I used to be the front-runner when I went out to Iowa,
but I’m not the front-runner any more,” Dean said at
Portsmouth, N.H., after making the traditional overnight flight
from Iowa to the Granite State. “But New Hampshire has a
great tradition of supporting the underdog. So guess what?
Let’s go get them.”

The topsy-turvy results produced smiles at the White House,
where advisers hoped for a long, nasty race that would produce a
damaged nominee and divided Democratic Party.

President Bush stole the spotlight from Democrats with the
annual State of the Union address, a dressed-up version of his
campaign agenda.

“They have 17 contests over the next five weeks,”
White House communications director Dan Bartlett said without a
hint of regret. “So it looks like the roller coaster is just
beginning.”

After New Hampshire, where polls show the race tightening, the
next twist comes Feb. 3 when seven states hold contests, including
Gephardt’s home state of Missouri. The state, now up for
grabs, has 74 pledged delegates at stake, more than Iowa and New
Hampshire combined.

It will cost upward of $1 million a week to air ads in every
Feb. 3 television market, not to mention the cost of travel. Kerry,
who dipped into his family fortune last year to keep his race
afloat, is the only one of the five major candidates not
advertising in any of the Feb. 3 states.

Edwards, whose candidacy hinges on a victory Feb. 3 in South
Carolina, is hoping to carry his Iowa momentum to New
Hampshire.

One of his events was so crowded yesterday that New Hampshire
Democratic Party chairwoman Kathleen Sullivan was turned away at
the door.

“This race is wild and wide open,” she said.

Edwards will leave New Hampshire on Wednesday to visit South
Carolina, and plans to return to his must-win state once more
before next today.

In South Carolina and elsewhere, Democrats were questioning
Dean’s political judgment after a bombastic election-night
speech.