Manchester, NH

Early this past Saturday evening Howard Dean took a brief timeout from his business then still at hand — Iowa — to host a by-telephone press conference about some business then still ahead: his final-week stretch run here in New Hampshire. The Dean campaign seemed to be losing a bit of altitude, one of us rudely reminded him; everything–the polls, the campaign’s front-line mood, what have you–seemed suddenly to favor Senators Kerry and Edwards in Iowa, and Wesley Clark in New Hampshire. What if he were to stumble a bit in the former state? Was Dean making contingency plans to shore himself up in the latter state, just in case — or just as a matter of simple and sensible midstream adjustment? No, actually. Or so Dean claimed, at least: “We don’t think we need to change anything” in New Hampshire. Did that mean he continued to expect a win there? No, actually: “I don’t think I said I expect to win New Hampshire.” He was playing down his chances in both places, then? No, actually: “I do think we’re gonna win Iowa.”