CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Howard Dean got some help on the campaign trail during weekend from a group of volunteers who flew up from President Bush's home state.

More than 140 Texans came to New Hampshire to recruit supporters door-to-door. A few hundred more flew to Iowa on chartered flights, courtesy of the campaign, to persuade caucus voters there to support the former Vermont governor.

Karen Hicks, the campaign's New Hampshire director, said the volunteers were expected to knock on as many as 20,000 doors during the weekend just in New Hampshire.

Margot Dimond, a media relations worker for Rice University, was among the crowd. She said she likes Dean's positive message and wants to help him win in the primary.

"A sense of community is missing right now. People are divided," Dimond said. "I hope that's what he can (fix). I care very much about this country."

With 10 candidates now competing in the Democratic presidential primary race, each campaign is under extraordinary pressure to stand out from the pack.

The Dean campaign's creativity has served it well so far. Its first-of-its-kind Internet strategy, for example, developed a national grass-roots network and brought in millions of dollars in a matter of months.

In August, the campaign held an Internet fundraiser that challenged online donors to match the $250,000 that Vice President Dick Cheney expected to raise at a $2,000-a-plate luncheon in South Carolina.

Dean supporters raised double the goal, and the money they sent paid for television ads in Texas, which the campaign broadcast just as Bush traveled to his Crawford ranch for his summer vacation.

The Dean campaign called the Texans let loose in Iowa and New Hampshire during the weekend "Dean's Texas Rangers," a play on the "Ranger" designation given to Republican supporters who gather at least $200,000 in donations.

"I'm completely amazed to be here," said Richard Davis, a 62-year-old computer programmer. "I expected to sort of coast through the Bush presidency, sort of benignly opposed."