Kerry and Dean

Kerry is "stealing" more material from Dean, but that's okay:

Borrowing from Dean's rhetoric, Kerry argued that there really was no middle class tax cut under Bush. When the president's economic policies were added up then the burden on the middle class was effectively increased by a "Bush tax."

Frankly, right now I don't care if Kerry's backbone is stolen or not, just so long as it works (and so far it is).

This report suggests that Dean probably won't be endorsing Kerry after this meeting but that are discussing strategies for how Dean and Kerry can work together to beat Bush. The distinction is still important, I think, because a lot of Dean's supporters don't want to feel like they are just another cog in the Kerry machine. They want to be viewed as independent players who are partnering with Kerry out of necessity.

There is also the feeling in the Dean circles I travel that getting to close to Kerry would allow Kerry and the Democratic leadership to fall back into the mode of taking the grassroots for granted. By staying one step outside the inner-circle, Dean can become the defacto leader of the opposition within the opposition party.