Dean's Role Is Redefined by Gore's Endorsement

ASHINGTON, Dec. 9 — Al Gore's endorsement confirms the status of Howard Dean as that rarest of animals in the jungle of presidential nominating politics: an insurgent front-runner. It gives him the legitimacy he has been seeking, but it also presents him with problems of self-definition.

By now, Dr. Dean had hoped to be in position to pick up the pieces if the Establishment candidates, as he used to call them, fell back. Instead, it is they who are revamping their campaigns to be ready to pounce if he falters in Iowa or New Hampshire, the first two tests in the race for the top spot on the Democratic ticket next year.

The Gore-Dean partnership was introduced on Tuesday in twin appearances in Harlem and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "I have come to the conclusion that among all of the candidates," Mr. Gore declared to a crowd in Iowa, "Howard Dean and you have managed to do a better job of igniting enthusiasm at the grass roots all across the United States of America."

But contradictions will trail Dr. Dean as he jets around the country with just six weeks left before the first big test. Is he an outsider still, or is he an insider? On tour last weekend, he sometimes sounded like both in the same day. Now he is the anointed candidate of the vice president in an administration whose policies, he has been suggesting for months, helped to turn many Dean supporters into nonvoters.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/10/politics/campaigns/10ASSE.html

If you need labels, please feel free to use them (not you Freddie, NYT)

That's a good label. :-)