It was in Portland, a bastion of Northwest left-liberalism so fierce it makes liberal Seattle seem like conservative San Antonio, so you knew it was going to be big. Even so, the turnout was impressive when John Kerry and Howard Dean rallied together in Portland's Pioneer Square--along with what was estimated to be more than 8,000 of their closest Democratic friends, only half of whom could actually fit onto the site (the other half clotted surrounding streets). As the festivities began around 5:00 p.m. with the lead singer from Everclear belting out a few acoustic ditties, the skies darkened and a slight drizzle began to fall. But God is a Democrat, or at least he was on Monday evening, and the skies cleared before the principals took the stage.

Aside from its size, the event itself, Kerry's first campaign visit to Oregon (he will be in Seattle on May 26) is not worth dwelling upon overmuch. John Kerry was John Kerry, which means he wasn't terrible, but wasn't nearly as exciting as one might wish him to be. Howard Dean, however, wasn't quite Howard Dean. He didn't speak long enough to work himself--and the crowd--into the frothing anti-Bush frenzy people were primed for.

But he was there, up on the stage, grinning at Kerry's jokes, shaking his stubby finger as he denounced Republican attacks on the man who unexpectedly bested him during the primary season. The two men embraced onstage, and then Dean praised Kerry, and Kerry praised Dean: "Thank you for helping to awaken the Democratic Party, to awaken the country." It was a choreographed political dance of strategically significant import. The "electable" candidate, Kerry, has support that's broad but not deep. Dean, the champion of a resurgent liberalism, has support that's deep but not broad. In a state that Al Gore won by less than 7,000 votes, and a city where Ralph Nader still feels at home, Dean has settled into his role as a part-time player, coming off the bench as a defensive specialist, dutifully executing his job as guardian of Kerry's left flank as the candidate tacks to the center.

Can Howard Dean protect John Kerry from Ralph Nader? It was the first question I asked the former Vermont governor during our post-rally interview in a small auditorium buried in the bowels of the venue. His answer was half boilerplate, half dodge: Nader has done a lot for America, particularly on the environment, he said, but this "is not the year for a third party... the stakes are too high." Fair enough, but it was not the question I was asking, so I tried again: Is it unfair of me to say that your role in this campaign is to protect Kerry's left flank from the threat of defections to Nader? Dean would neither confirm nor deny: "I wouldn't say 'unfair,' but I would say you're putting words in my mouth." When I tried a third time, Dean said, "That's not how I see my role in the campaign."

This proves only one thing: Dean has learned the hard way that you don't talk campaign strategy with reporters. It does not require extraordinary political insight to see that this is how the Kerry campaign sees Dean, if not how Dean sees himself. This is not to say that Dean's full-throated support for Kerry is not genuine. We have George W. Bush to thank for that. The most forceful answer I got from Dean came when I asked him what Kerry was offering the Dean wing of the Democratic Party, aside from not being Bush. "How about health insurance for all Americans, how about investment in early childhood, how about a strong environmental policy, how about foreign policy consistent with American values," Dean said. "It seems to me all those things are far different from what George Bush is offering, which is half-trillion dollar deficits and a foreign policy based on things that aren't true.... What I can do is make it clear that John Kerry in my view would be a far better president for America than George Bush."

When Nader announced in February that he would run for president, Dean told his supporters to ignore the consumer advocate's siren song, proclaiming that the perfect should not be the enemy of the good. It is a lesson his supporters should remember when they go to the polls this November.

sandeep@thestranger.com