Howard Dean's end run

"In his presidential bid, Vermont governor Howard Dean hopes to bridge the gulf between New England and the Western states, and bypass the socially conservative South. Should John Kerry be worried?"

This is the profile on Dean by The Phoenix, the liberal weekly in Boston. It's good, here's a snip:

Afterward, off camera, Dean asked Keller how he performed. The pair discussed the relative brevity of Dean’s responses, and the governor appeared proud of the short answers he managed to give to complicated questions. "One thing that helps," he offered, "is that I know what I think. I don’t care what the polls say." Dean didn’t target any particular candidate with this comment. He could have had in mind any number of leading politicians prone to verbosity. But his comments couldn’t help but bring to mind Kerry, whose performance on NBC’s Meet the Press on December 1, during which he announced his decision to form a presidential-campaign exploratory committee, and some commentators faulted for its ... verbosity.

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"To have 232 people come and raise just about $100,000 in John Kerry’s hometown the week he announces for president says volumes about Dean’s ability to raise money and gain support as a candidate," says Grossman.