In California, the Dean apparatus is not dissuading his supporters from continuing to push his candidacy aggressively, to send Dean delegates to the Democratic National Convention this summer.
One pro-Dean delegate admitted that most ex-Deaniacs are now either working for or giving money to the Kerry campaign.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, campaigning in South Carolina, said on the CNN program "Late Edition" that he intended to remain in the campaign as well, saying he had essentially the same strategy as Dr. Dean: winning delegates, if not states.
The idea, he said, would be to create a slate of state delegates born of Dr. Dean's campaign but beholden to no one.
When at college himself, aged 17, he was often delegated to replace the dean in giving astronomy classes to college seniors.
And as Mr. Dean pointed out, "Whoever has the most delegates has the most advantage in the credentials committee".
But he also said that in all likelihood, Dr. Dean would win very few of the New York delegates at stake and therefore his supporters should think about moving on.
When Princeton's administrators asked her to join the advisory committee to select the minority dean, she agreed to, but only as a formal delegate of Acción Puertorriqueña, a campus organization.
The Dean campaign acknowledged that this strategy had never been used successfully, but it suggested that a slow accumulation of delegates could keep the campaign alive.
