Dean has said he will focus his efforts as chairman more on building the party at the local, state and national level, raising money and winning elections, while elected officials will be more responsible for policy positions.

Do you remember what strategy catapulted Dean into the national eye in the first place? It was his cybergrass-roots organizing. That turned his candidacy from underdog to frontrunner.

This is what he proposes to bring to the party. This is where the party is suffering. Its infrastructure on the local and state levels is poor because many of the organizations that supplied troops for it are now in poor shape themselves -- especially the unions, but other groups as well, that have fallen into disrepair because they have other fights more important to them, and because their memberships have many other commitments.

Policy will be set by elected party members. They are answerable to their constituencies, and are more aware of the national mood. Dean will be running a bottom-up tuneup for the machine. That's an important distinction.

Roemer's point on tactics is very well taken. I have no doubt it wasn't lost on Dean. The Republicans got where they are today because they started to work on the local level and worked up after the Goldwater debacle. The Democrats were not paying attention to this, because they thought they were secure.

Republicans like to think of Dean as a wild man. Let's also remember he is a doctor, a former governor, and someone who ran a very smart, forward-looking and aggressive campaign, so he's no idiot. He can get things done. His statement at the very tail end of the article indicates he knows what things need to get done, and what things are appropriate to the job he seeks.

But if you want to think of him as the antiChrist's chief assistant, don't let me stop you.