The early line isn't good. Word from the field is that the impetuous Dean makes Bob Dole look soft and cuddly, that he's little more than a fad, and, worst of all, that he's a one-trick pony who doesn't have the legs for a long presidential run.

So I arrived up here half expecting the candidate to be disemboweling bunnies in his spare time, screaming at staff about the dripping entrails, and railing nonstop about Iraq. I expected, in short, to find someone to be dismissed.