"Howard Dean stands on the brink of a remarkable achievement in American politics, having transformed himself from rank obscurity to clear favorite for his party's presidential nomination," the Washington Post reports. "But rarely has a front-runner begun an election year with as many questions swirling around him as the man who rewrote the rules in presidential politics the past 12 months."
"After a year of intensive campaigning, tireless fundraising, constant travel and endless debates, Dean and his eight rivals face a battery of primaries and caucuses unlike anything Democrats have seen in the past: a 60-day series of tests that not only will produce a challenger to President Bush, but also answer what kind of party the Democrats will be in 2004 and beyond."