Democratic White House hopeful Howard Dean looked past Tuesday's contests in seven states and predicted Washington State's caucuses on Saturday could be "the turning point" in his faltering campaign.
The former Vermont governor, who began the year with more money and momentum than any of his rivals, frittered away both in a $40 million gamble on locking up the Democratic nomination early.
Instead, he suffered bad losses to Massachusetts Senator John Kerry in Iowa and New Hampshire and has all but given up hope of winning anywhere today, when South Carolina, New Mexico, Arizona, Delaware, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Missouri hold contests.
Mr Dean's new strategy is to focus on counting delegates. With wins, or good showings, in Michigan and Washington State on Saturday, or Maine on Sunday, he hopes to outlast opponents and be the last-man-standing alternative to Kerry in Wisconsin on February 17th.
"If you want change in America, at 10 a.m. on Saturday you can have it because Washington State is going to be the turning point -- if we win -- of this campaign," he told a rally in Spokane.
The fallen front-runner, whose insurgent White House bid was built on tough anti-war rhetoric and an anti-establishment message, reminded voters he was the first candidate to stand up against the invasion of Iraq and that, as a governor, he had balanced budgets and provided health care for almost all Vermonters.