First Door on the Left

Becoming a Ranger for President Bush means raising at least $200,000 for his reelection, but former Vermont governor Howard Dean’s presidential campaign has formed a group of “Texas Rangers,” who need only comfortable shoes and a weekend to spare.

In his latest effort to tweak Bush for his prodigious fundraising even as he out-raises everyone in the Democratic field, Dean is flying at least 495 Lone Star State supporters to Iowa and New Hampshire later this month and is calling them “Texas Rangers.”

Planeloads of Dean supporters are going from Austin, Texas, to Des Moines; Dallas to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Houston to Manchester, N.H., on Sept. 27. The campaign says their mission is to spend two days taking Dean’s “message of hope and action door to door.”

Dean has made an unusual push in Texas, which doesn’t hold its primary until March 2, after 17 other states and the District of Columbia have held their nominating contests. Dean bought TV advertising in Austin when Bush was at his ranch for his August vacation. The ads generated a lucrative response from new contributors. The campaign says Dean drew 3,000 supporters in Austin in July and 3,500 in San Antonio last month.

Meals and flights are provided for next weekend’s Texas Rangers trip, and the Rangers will stay with supporters in the target states. Bush’s Rangers tend to stay in hotels before their gatherings, but a Dean e-mail to his Rangers implores anyone who can offer a “crash pad” for the night before the flights out of Texas to “please let us know.”