Few years ago, I'm out in the Blue Ridge mountains enjoying the day with friends and friends of friends. A fella says the neighboring property is owned by Howard Dean, the governor of Vermont.

"Hmm," I said, "I've never heard of him."

"Oh, you will," came the reply.

Now I see why.

Howard Dean is running for president.

***

A family doctor turned politician, Dean is the nation's longest sitting Democratic governor. In 1991, Lt. Gov. Dean was examining a patient when he got the call that Gov. Richard Snelling had died in a heart attack. He finished the exam before dashing off to be sworn in because he didn't want to inconvenience the patient.

If that sounds unusual for a politician, then consider this: how many Democrats have tax cuts on their record? How many Democrats have reminded people that Arab terrorists are attacking us with our own money?

In his 11 years in office, Dean has turned budget deficiits into surpluses. He initiated a rainy day fund that hasn't been touched. He's done remarkably well in the field of children's health, thanks to a plan called "Dr. Dynasaur."

And in a really interesting twist, he's a Democrat who is against gun control -- and says the party needs to get off the gun control dead horse if it ever wants to win in the South or West. He's quite skeptical of Iraqi war plans, which pleases me to no end. He's a committed environmentalist, which helps, too.

And now, the incredibly unknown Dean is hoping to follow the Jimmy Carter path from obscurity to the White House. Well, here's a snippet Gov. Dean's campaign is free to steal. Right before he ran for president, Carter appeared on the gameshow "What's My Line" and nobody recognized him as the governor of Georgia.

Early press has been favorable, but early press is almost always favorable for outsiders and underdogs. Dean's candid and blunt style is drawing comparisons to John McCain, which doesn't hurt, either. He's also got a sense of humor, which is important when it comes to handling early embarrassments with grace. For example, here's a soundbite he gave to the New Republic. "I'd give you my 10-point plan, but it's only got six points so far."

His platform hinges on universal health care, fiscal conservatism and environmental issues. Sounds good, except that health care can be the third rail of politics. I have to hear more from him on this topic; a doctor may carry a lot of credibility, but there's an electoral lesson in the Hilary Clinton - Ira Magaziner health care meltdown of the '90s.

In a broad-brush sense, if I were running for office, my platform would look remarkably like the "On The Issues" page of Dean's Web site. It's an impressive mix of the sensible and idealistic.

Here's my primary problem with it.

As a general rule, if I really like a politician, he is doomed.

Now Gov. Dean can take hope in that my list of doomed politicians generally fall into the category of maverick Republicans (John Anderson, John McCain). He can take hope that in Gen X parlance, the Democrats are in bad need of something fresh.

He can take hope that Richard Gephardt is a weasel, that John Edwards is personal injury lawyer, and that Al Gore is, well, Al Gore. He can take hope in the fact Hillary Clinton won't run until 2008, and that Sen. John Kerry is yet another Massachusetts liberal.

The best hope for Dean, of course, is to see the national debate get off war in the Middle East and get it back to the economy, an area where President Bush is quite vulnerable.

Dean will have to learn how to raise boatloads of cash because the 2004 primary season is earlier and shorter than in the past. He'll have to be liberal enough to bring back young wayward Democrats while still being enough of a centrist to be taken seriously. These are not easy tasks.

The biggest hurdle of all, however, is the first -- summoning the ego to decide to run for president. In an age where many, many good people don't want anything to do with politics, that says something in itself.

Can't say I'm going to vote for him, but I'm sure going to keep listening.

***

G.L. Marshall once spent four months working as a PR-spin doctor for a U.S. Senate candidate. He's currently trying to invent a name for a new party that sounds better than "Glibertarian."