Burlington, Vt. ? Democrat Howard Dean shook up his faltering bid for the White House on Wednesday, replacing his campaign manager with a former Washington lobbyist tied to Al Gore.

In a further sign of distress, the one-time front-runner took some cost-cutting measures as he looked ahead to a series of costly primaries and caucuses, asking staff to defer their paychecks for two weeks.

“I think you are going to see a leaner, meaner organization,” Dean told 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 front-runner’s campaign. It’s going to be a long, long war of attrition.”

Dean said he wanted Roy Neel to take over office operations under the title of chief executive officer. Dean said he asked campaign manager Joe Trippi to stay on as a campaign strategist focused on media and Internet operations, but Trippi quit instead of accepting the demotion.

Other officials said Dean asked Trippi to remain as campaign manager, but Trippi believed he couldn’t function effectively while reporting to Neel.

Trippi’s departure sent shock waves through the campaign, where he is a popular boss and something of an icon to the thousands of Internet-savvy supporters across the country. Trippi, who helped fashion Dean’s antiestablishment message, was replaced by the ultimate Washington insider just as the candidate sought to reaffirm his outsider’s mantle.

Even aides who supported Neel’s accession said they feared Trippi’s departure would be a blow to staff morale and jeopardize Dean’s Internet-driven fund-raising successes.