Governor Dean “runs the risk of falling off the political map,” the Associated Press is reporting in the wake of recent defeats. The reason is that not only is his momentum depleted but so is his money. Earlier came reports that the former leader of Vermont is asking key staff members to work for a while without pay. Now the candidate has decided against airing ads in any of the seven states holding elections next week, his officials are being quoted by the AP as saying. This puts him, the wire says, “at a distinct disadvantage with high-spending rivals for the Democratic nomination.”

This is the liberal petard. Dr. Dean, though not our cup of tea, is one of the idealists of the liberal sector, revered by liberals in this race with an intensity that few of the other candidates can match. He deserves to be able to fund his campaign. And he would no doubt be able to do so were it not for the regulations on campaign speech — we speak of the campaign finance laws — erected by the same liberal orthodoxy that has lofted him to such a tantalizing position. The front-runner, Senator Kerry, is a multi-centimillionaire, rolling in cash. Yet poor Dr. Dean is limited in who can fund him, how much they can fund, what institutions can contribute. He has waived matching funds so he can spend as much as he wants in each state, but there’s no way to waive the limits on the size of contributions or the ban on contributions from corporations.

According to the AP, Dr. Dean’s strategy to curtail advertising came as he focused on delegate-rich states most likely to determine the Democratic presidential nominee. “I think you are going to see a leaner, meaner organization,” the AP quoted Dr. Dean as telling reporters Wednesday night. “We had geared up for what we thought would be a front-runner’s campaign. It’s not going to be a frontrunner’s campaign. It’s going to be a long, long war of attrition.” The AP said that Michigan is playing prominently in his strategy of focusing on states by delegate count, rather than calendar. “We’re going to try everywhere, but what we are really looking at is the delegate count,” it quoted the Vermont doctor as saying.

Yet the AP reports that Dr. Dean’s backers are dubious. It says that in a conference call with members of Congress who have endorsed him, he was told bluntly that finishing second wasn’t good enough — that he had to show he could win a primary. The wire quoted his campaign chairman, Steven Grossman, as saying Wednesday that the candidate must win a presidential primary in the next two weeks to keep even his most loyal donor base, meaning those giving modest amounts over the Web, contributing enough to make him financially competitive. For the moment he has to follow this kind of strategy because the Supreme Court has allowed parts of McCain Feingold and other speech regulation laws to remain in effect.

Perhaps a defeat of Dr. Dean will awaken guardians of the liberal orthodoxy to what they have created.