Nashua, N.H. ? The Democratic presidential contenders intensified their search for undecided Democrats and uncommitted independents Sunday, campaigning amid a new round of attacks on one another’s electability and allegations of late-hour dirty tricks.

With a variety of polls consistently showing Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry maintaining a double-digit advantage over his nearest rivals leading up to Tuesday’s first presidential primary election of the 2004 campaign, the candidates made stars, senators and spouses part of their 11th-hour search for votes.

Kerry traveled with Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and retired Gen. Wesley Clark’s retinue included actor-spouses Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut made their wives a part of their late campaigning.

Clark slipped into third place in the polls, and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina looked for a late surge similar to the one that gave him a strong second-place finish in Iowa.

One survey also showed Lieberman making a late charge into the top tier of contenders.

Meanwhile, a new Newsweek poll showed Kerry would defeat President Bush, 49 percent to 46 percent, if the election took place now. Kerry has enjoyed a bump in support in New Hampshire coming off his victory in Iowa’s caucuses a week ago.

‘A long process’

Regardless of Tuesday’s finish in New Hampshire, the contenders agreed that a long road toward the Democratic nomination may well lie ahead, perhaps long past next week’s voting in seven primary and caucus states, including South Carolina, Missouri, Arizona and Oklahoma.

“This is going to be a long process, this nomination,” Edwards, who is looking ahead to South Carolina for a breakthrough victory, said on CNN.

As Kerry canvassed for votes in Merrimack, he renewed his criticism that Dean’s flip-flopping on issues makes the former Vermont governor unelectable in the fall. Kerry said one of his strengths is “the consistency of my positions.”

“The Republicans will just kill us on that,” Kerry said of Dean. He made the remark to Diana Frothingham, a voter the candidate met in her driveway Sunday morning. “Between foreign policy and taxes, I think it’s a serious problem.”

Kerry, in an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” also lashed out at Dean’s attacks on the Massachusetts senator’s support for a resolution authorizing the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Kerry questioned when Dean was “going to stop running the negative campaign.”

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., claps with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, during a campaign rally in Nashua, N.H. Polls released Sunday showed Kerry with a double-digit lead in New Hampshire.

The Dean campaign, meanwhile, alleged that opponents were making harassing and sometimes bigoted early morning and late-night phone calls to potential voters and were claiming to be from the Dean camp.

Dean, trailing behind Kerry in New Hampshire polling, said he believes his campaign is back on track after a third-place finish in Iowa and the subsequent fallout over his screaming screech.

“New Hampshire voters have a long history of undoing what was done in Iowa,” Dean said.

Wives on board

Dean spent the day seeking the ballots of women voters with the aid of his wife, Judy Dean, who is known professionally as Dr. Judith Steinberg.

“Whether it’s our careers, raising our children, or being there for the ones we love, we all struggle and juggle to do it all, and I’m here to tell you that Howard gets it,” said Judy Dean, who introduced her husband by reading from a laptop computer to a crowded college ballroom in Manchester.

Dean, who has pulled ads in other states to concentrate resources on a late push in New Hampshire, later told a women’s forum, “After I get done, Hillary (Rodham Clinton) will be president.”

Edwards continued to attract large crowds as he pushed for a high-place showing once considered unimaginable for a Southern candidate running in a crowded field with New Englanders.

Edwards acknowledged to CNN that there is “a lot of window shopping going on” among undecided voters, but as he did in Iowa, he emphasized that his is the “most positive, optimistic, hopeful vision for the country.”

Lieberman campaigned with his wife, Hadassah, and attributed his move into third place in one poll as the result of voters encouraged by his message of moderation.