I SEE HOWARD DEAN'S elevation to head of the Democratic National Committee as a hopeful sign. Dean's presidential candidacy was so discredited and damaged by his famous scream that I would have thought the Democrats would run from him. I think the fact they have chosen him to lead the party is a sign that they are embracing his maverick image; i.e., they are deciding to stop being so terrified of embracing core Democratic Party values.

"We are trying so hard to be like Republicans and we're not. I think Howard Dean says clearly that we are different," Cusack [Joyce Cusack, a Florida delegate] said. "We are the party of ordinary citizens and not the elite, we are everyday working folk."

If Dean can actually build a Democratic Party that stops trying to defend itself against Republican charges of being "soft on defense" and starts forcing Republicans to defend themselves against charges of being soft on first-rate public education for all children and health insurance coverage for all Americans, then we may just have a Democratic Party we can be proud of again.