ASHINGTON - Former Vice President Dan Quayle, seeking to revive his presidential campaign, is pulling significant staff and resources out of Iowa and other states to narrow his focus to the New Hampshire primary.
With his campaign locked in the single digits, Quayle also will work to sharpen his political message for the fall by drawing starker contrasts to Republican presidential front-runner George W. Bush.
''The campaign has been quite boring frankly,'' said the former vice president, who will retain a minimal presence in Iowa. ''We're going to turn the temperature up.''
The remarks provided the first clue to Quayle's plans for rebounding from an eighth-place finish in last month's Iowa straw poll. Almost immediately, Republican strategists predicted that Quayle's donations would dry up and force his departure from the race. His campaign workers in South Carolina bolted for another campaign.
Quayle vowed to tough it out.
The former vice president has determined that New Hampshire was the best place to rejuvenate his campaign. The state seems the best fit for his massive tax-cut plan, aides said, and is perhaps more willing than Iowa to give an underdog candidate a second look.
''In New Hampshire, they take their responsibility seriously. It has that one-on-one character,'' Quayle said in a telephone interview. ''They have a different view. It's a smaller state than Iowa.''
It also is the home of former Governor John Sununu, a cochairman of the Quayle campaign. The former White House chief of staff has urged Quayle to ignore doomsayers and stay in the race.
Quayle will spend part of Labor Day weekend campaigning in New Hampshire.
