Democrats will turn their attention, albeit fleetingly, to Maine this weekend with several of the party’s presidential candidates looking for votes – and a brief moment in the national spotlight – in the country’s only Sunday primary contest.

Howard Dean, a former Vermont governor and the race’s former front-runner, will appear at several of Maine’s local caucuses, beginning with an 11:30 a.m. Sunday rally in Bangor at Bass Park.

Dean’s once formidable candidacy has been left for dead by many after he failed to win any of the nation’s first nine primary contests. He said in a recent telephone interview that a strong showing Sunday could revive the campaign.

“A win in Maine would be very helpful … and we will win Maine because I understand Maine,” said Dean while on a brief campaign swing through delegate-rich Michigan, where polls show rival John Kerry holding a commanding lead in today’s caucus.

In terms of delegates to this summer’s Democratic National Convention, Maine’s 35 pale in comparison to those up for grabs at today’s contests in Michigan and Washington, where a combined 249 await the six remaining Democratic hopefuls.

The Dean campaign has all but conceded Michigan to the surging Massachusetts senator, who has won seven of the nine contests, losing only in South Carolina and Oklahoma.

Dean instead has focused on contests in Washington, Maine and Wisconsin, three relatively liberal states where summertime rallies for the once fiery Vermonter attracted thousands of devoted supporters and throngs of national media.

Based on his recent failures, Dean’s following appears to be shrinking, however, and on Friday, it was the Kerry campaign – although minus the candidate himself – that drew crowds to Momma Baldacci’s Italian restaurant in Bangor.

There, it was U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy who rallied close to 300 people packed into a banquet room, where many reveled in recent poll results showing President Bush’s job approval rating dropping to 47 percent.

“You can depend upon this person,” said Kennedy, Kerry’s senior counterpart in the Senate. “I know the kind of leader he can be, not only for our country but for the world.

“Just remember this,” Kennedy concluded, applying his distinctive and often imitated accent to one of the most versatile of campaign slogans. “February 8 is the date. Maine is the state, and John Kerry is our candidate!”

Maine’s Gov. John Baldacci, whose family owns the restaurant, agreed with those sentiments, endorsing Kerry earlier this week.

In the midst of the cheering crowd at the restaurant Friday, stood another Kerry supporter, Bill Lippincott, a Hampden Democrat.

But unlike most at the afternoon rally, Lippincott left his Kerry for President campaign sticker in his pocket – for now.

“Not until the caucus,” he said, explaining when he would formally back Kerry, whose aides on Friday stopped short of predicting a victory here.

“We’re feeling very good about it,” said Kerry’s Maine field director, Lisa Baldacci, the governor’s sister, declining to comment on reports of internal polls showing Kerry with a solid lead in Maine.

Lippincott’s wife, Dorothy, wasn’t wearing a campaign sticker either. She characterized herself as a wavering Dean supporter considering a jump to Kerry’s camp.

“The more I learn about Kerry, the more I like him,” she said. “I just need to find out a few more things about Dean … and the rest of them, really.”

If voters begin to sense an inevitability, coming together on a nominee early in the primary process is not unusual, said University of Maine professor Amy Fried.

“I think some Democrats are starting to feel that they want to coalesce and get this settled,” Fried said Friday.

Undecided voters are few and far between with just one day before they assemble at the more than 400 sites throughout the state.

At those local caucuses, participants will chose delegates based on the number of residents who voted Democratic in the last gubernatorial election. Those local delegates will then represent their communities at the statewide Democratic Convention May 21-23 in Portland, where they will pick the state’s delegates to the national convention.

Many – through the more than 2,600 absentee ballots returned to state Democratic Party headquarters – have already made their choices. This is the first year Maine has allowed absentee ballots in a caucus.

The early commitments, according to some analysts, could favor such candidates as Dean and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, both of whom employed significant absentee voter drives.

And despite its setbacks, the Dean campaign continues to enjoy new infusions of cash, collecting more than $925,000 nationwide since Thursday.

But Kucinich, who has visited Maine several times during the campaign, isn’t ready to concede Maine to the stronger and wealthier candidates from New England.

Like Dean, Kucinich will also begin his Sunday in Bangor. He will greet caucus voters at the Bangor Civic Center just before the 1 p.m. start time, and is scheduled to address the crowd shortly after the caucus convenes.

Kucinich supporters are banking on a top-tier finish for their dedication to Maine, where he appears to have a significant following among those in the party’s more liberal wing for his anti-war views and support for universal, single payer health care.

“These are passionate, passionate people, and that will drive them to the caucus,” said Lu Bauer, a coordinator for Kucinich’s Maine campaign.

Other leading candidates, including North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, retired Gen. Wesley Clark and the Rev. Al Sharpton have little if any presence in Maine, and are not expected to make strong showings Sunday.

For more information on caucus times and locations, visit www.mainedems.org.