BURLINGTON, Feb 18: Former Democratic front-runner Howard Dean ended his roller-coaster White House bid on Wednesday but vowed to turn his Internet-based operation into a new force for progressive change.

"Today my candidacy may come to an end - but our campaign for change is not over," the maverick former Vermont governor declared. Vowing to back his party's eventual presidential nominee, Mr Dean drew cheers and applause from a crowd of several hundred when he said, "Together we have the power to take back the White House ... and that's exactly what we're going to do."

Mr Dean's decision to bow out of the race for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination came one day after his lopsided loss in the Wisconsin primary - his 17th defeat without a victory in his party's nominating process.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who replaced Mr Dean as the party's presidential front-runner a month ago, saluted his departed rival. "He has done an extraordinary job of invigorating a whole group of people who were divorced from the political process," Mr Kerry said.

Mr Dean's Internet operation smashed fund-raising records as he also connected with legions of new online activists. Along the way, Mr Dean helped reshape the 2004 White House race by tapping in early to voters' concerns about the war in Iraq, health care and the soaring federal deficit - energizing Democrats and sharpening criticism of Bush. -Reuters