Perhaps this should have been the Dean Story of the Day. I'll make it the second one. I have that power.

Today's featured article on the WSJ's OpinionJournal (taken from the Journal's uber-right editorial page) is an op-ed by Howard Dean. (Free registration is required.)

It starts out a bit politicianlike, but cuts the crap about midway through:

Promising a "compassionate" administration, President Bush pledged to "recover the momentum of our economy," "reward the effort and enterprise of working Americans" and confront economic problems now, "instead of passing them on to future generations." Instead, he's offered tax cuts that don't address our needs, and saddled our children with debt for generations to come. On this president's watch, the federal debt has grown by over $1 trillion. That's the rough equivalent of putting $3,500 on the charge card of every American.

How did our nation come to this place? The answer is simple--the economic policies of this administration are aimed at ideological goals, not help for the average American.

Then he moves into a section on what he's proposing to do:

We can do better. As president, my economic policies will be focused and clear. I will begin by repealing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, and using the revenues that result from the repeal to address the needs of the average American, invest in the nation's infrastructure and, through tax reform, put money in the hands of those most likely to spend it.

That's pretty bold and pretty straightforward. I hope it's not a deal-killer in the general election, but if anybody can sell it he can. I'm certainly all for it. Luckily it's not all he has to say on taxes:

No program for economic recovery and growth can ignore the tax system, particularly the bizarre collection of tax expenditures, preferences, credits and deductions which has directed revenues away from the federal treasury and into uneconomic tax avoidance schemes. Average Americans pay their taxes through withholding or quarterly estimates. Meanwhile, corporations and multinational enterprises take advantage of elaborate tax shelters, and billions go uncollected. The need for reform is obvious and compelling, and I will give tax reform a top priority in my administration. But unlike the tax initiatives of the current president, my program of tax reform and relief will be targeted to the average Americans who are struggling to make ends meet--not those whose needs are well provided for.

And maybe he can just paint Bushie as the fiscal radical he is:

Finally, maintaining fiscal discipline is essential to long-term growth; discretionary spending must be sustainable, and the federal budget must be balanced over the business cycle.

I balanced every budget during my 11 years as governor, despite the fact that Vermont is the only state with a constitution that doesn't require a balanced budget. To keep spending in line, I will not be afraid to use the veto--a power President Bush has yet to exercise.

From Fox. No really, from FoxFirst.

But first I need to think of a new name for this "Dean Story of the Day" feature. Sadly, there are not that many worthy stories. Which is fortunate, it turns out, because I could never keep up.

Today's entry is from FoxNews: Dean Makes Tracks in New Hampshire. Not a great story, but it grabs today's distinction because it's Fox gushing about Dean. Hard to even imagine. And surprisingly, it gushes without all the sniping and backhanded compliments Time and especially Newsweek (in the form of that turd Jonathan Alter) showered on him a few weeks ago. A few glimpses:

The self-proclaimed outsider is the closest thing to a front-runner, normally reserved for an establishment candidate, in this type of race. . . .

But these are uncharted waters in American politics -- never before has the insurgent outsider also been the front-runner, giving Dean either plenty of time to implode or to win over even more surprise converts.

My apologies to those of you living outside the world of Chip & Reichen. I will post on other topics very soon. Still caught up in the wonder of our amazing gayboy heroes. (Including Howard Dean launching his Sleepless Summer Tour today, and an interesting Columbine development this morning.)

I hope you enjoy this exchange with my Salon editor as much as I did (and I'm very careful with private correspondence, but there's nothing here she would mind you hearing). She was a huge Survivor fan (at least in the beginning), so I thought she might be watching the race all summer, so I sent a message with this subject line, after the show finished playing in SF: "They won! They won! They won! They won!"

Her response (in part):

No, I wasn't watching, but I'm glad they won! . . . I thought your email was about the Giants -- Barry Bonds just hit a home run in the 10th to win the game, the 2nd time he did the exact same thing in 3 days! We're all in our own little worlds . . .

She's so wonderful. Always gets everything right. (And those final elipses were hers, by the way.) I got a dissmissive response from my gruff lawyer, the prosecutor: "I have not seen the show but one would hope that gayland has more significant accomplishments to brag about." Some people are just no fun at all. I know most of the world could not care less. If I go out tonight, most of the club kids on the dance floor will return a blank look when I mention the names of our boys. Reichen? Does he live around here? But who cares. In the world according to Dru (my family's name for me), this is National Chip & Reichen day.

Now about that Columbine and presidential campaign. Soon, very soon. It's a freaking holiday here.