By the way, all through this campaign, Dean's focus has been on "we," "us" and even more commonly, "you."

"You have the power to take back your country, you have the power to change your party, and together we have the power to take back the White House in 2004, and that's exactly what we're gonna do. Thank you! Thank You! You have the power!"

is the way he ended every stump speech for a year. "You have the Power" is still Dean's biggest slogan, along with its Spanish version "Si Se Puede." (Dean is the only candidate fluent in Spanish. He picked it up working on a farm in Florida where all the other workers were Cuban refugees.)

Kerry's mantra was "In the Senate, I led the fight." It was I, I, I for a year. Kerry's adoption of populist rhetoric and "we" is another thing he took directly from Dean. Frank's observation that Kerry seldom says I sounds like someone who turns on a football game in the last five minutes, just after a dramatic turnaround that gives the advantage to Green Bay for the first time, they run out the clock, and he says "wow, Green Bay really dominated that game." I've been watching these guys closely for a long time. They're dramatically different than even four weeks ago, and Kerry was not a "we" kind of guy.

One of the nice things about having supported Dean all along, actually, is that even if my candidate doesn't win, he has so profoundly set the terms of this campaign that his opponents are very different people because of him. All the good things about Kerry and Edwards, their newfound populism and inclusive rhetoric, are borrowed from Dean. Edwards even uses "you have the power." CNN's Mark Shields, along with other journalists, have been making this point for the last few days. Whoever wins, there will be a little bit of Howard Dean in the nominee.

But I fear that if Kerry wins the nomination, it'll be nothing but Bush for four more years.