In a diary entry below, someone asks if Dean's toughness (what Nader called his "rope-a-dope" ability) is a strategy he chose for this campaign.
I think it's been his way for a long time. My kids' pediatrician in California was the medical student assigned to work with Howard Dean when he was a medical resident more than twenty years ago.
At a recent check-up, I asked him if he knew Dean when he mentioned practicing in Vermont and discovered this connection. Anyway, he hasn't been following the campaign AT ALL, but he made some comments about what Howard Dean was like as a colleague.
He said he was likeable and a good doctor. He also said that he had a tendency to fight back if patients did stupid things (he mentioned this totally unprompted). For example, some drunk motorcyclists came in once in really bad shape and were yelling things at the doctors while getting treated. My pediatrician said he practically had to hold Howard back as he chewed them out and tried to teach them some basic sense. My pediatrician is a big guy and he noted that he couldn't believe Howard was ready for a fight because he was a "skinny guy" and the motorcyclists were big guys, and he noted Howard looks bigger now that he's older (I guess he's seen him on TV or in the newpaper). I replied that Howard was a wrestler in high school, and my pediatrician seemed surprised. He also said his wife Judy was really nice and smart, and he added, "Actually, you look a lot like her, especially when she was your age, only you're a lot thinner" (my pediatrician is clearly a bit obsessed with peoples' size). He then went on to tell me funny stories about another medical student that was in their group of three, and some other stories about what it's like to practice family medicine in rural Vermont.
When I asked if he thought Dean would make a good president, he looked pretty startled, and shrugged, "Well he won't become president because no one from Vermont would be taken seriously; it's a really small rural state." I then told him how well he's doing in the polls, fundraising, etc. My pediatrician then said, "Huh, I wonder if he remembers me..." Pretty funny.