Last February I traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the national convention of College Democrats of America (CDA), an event held in conjunction with the Democratic National Committee's winter meeting. The highlight of the weekend was the showcasing of the seven people who had by then announced their candidacy for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination (Bob Graham and Dennis Kucinich were not yet in the race). One of the candidates who presented himself was a former governor of Vermont, someone I knew nothing about other than his opposition to the coming war in Iraq. Dr. Howard Dean delivered the most energized speech of those few days in Washington, sharply getting the attention of everyone in the basement of the Capitol Hill Hyatt.

Not to discredit the other candidates, some of them like Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO) and Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) also gave rousing speeches, but nothing on the level of Dean's fiery words.

Dean gave not only a scathing critique of the Bush administration's policies, but also issued a wake-up call to the Democratic Party - an organization whose leaders filled the main room. Regardless of his financial position then (which was nowhere near that of early frontrunners like Edwards and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)), I knew instantly that Dr. Dean was the person to defeat George W. Bush next year.

Later that weekend, some of the candidates addressed the College Democrats exclusively. After an address by Rep. Carol Mosely-Braun (D-IL) and an entertaining appearance by the Rev. Al Sharpton, Dean came into CDA's convention room and delivered another memorable speech.

Later in the evening - at a reception for National Abortion Reproductive Rights League - several candidates dropped by and all gave quick speeches regarding abortion rights. Again, there were some good speeches, but Dean - no doubt aided by his medical expertise - delivered another galvanizing speech.

Then at a reception in honor of New Mexico governor Bill Richardson - an event I was surely not meant to attend - I found myself standing next to Dean at a table. I thanked him for speaking to the College Democrats and told him he conveyed some great messages that weekend. His reply was simply, "Just wait. I've got a lot more."

That was six months ago, and in the mean time, the race for the Democratic nomination has dramatically changed because of Dean's meteoric rise. After February, I started to notice more and more people - not only in the media but in real life - speak about the Dean campaign and how it excited people about the American political process.

Many journalists correctly identified Dean's campaign as a populist one, which the Dean Campaign willingly agrees with. In a fierce race that precludes the real contest - the general election - the Democratic Party filled its summer with a search for its values and direction.

The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) - a centrist organization that was very influential in the 1992 election of Bill Clinton - quickly derided Dean in May as an extreme leftist in the mold of George McGovern.

The DLC, whose staff has also been working for Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, puts forth the argument that the way to beat Bush is to be like Bush, rather than flatly oppose him.

This argument is most true for the Lieberman campaign, but other candidates like Edwards and Kerry accused Dean of being too far to the left.

This is not to invalidate the other candidates - each has his own merits and virtues - but the overall race has undergone several transformations over the summer.

Despite a much criticized appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," in June, Dean raised more funds than any other Democratic candidate in the second quarter of the year. Like any political candidate, he has his share of $2,000 donations, but a great deal of Dean's $7.6 million in the second quarter came from small donations given by tens of thousands of people.

The miracle campaign tool? The Internet. A comprehensive Web site combined with a frequently updated weblog (appropriately titled "Blog for America"), is redefining the meaning of grassroots campaigning. Although some in the Republican machine have written off Internet campaigning as an elitist method (the MoveOn.org primary was a good event, but it was primarily for the Net-savvy), they fail to realize that the country, as a whole, is becoming increasingly aware of the online realm each day. Now, other candidates have introduced blogs. But the difference between Kerry's blog and Dean's blog is that Dean actually writes in his, while Kerry's does not.

As Dean has become the frontrunner in the race to unseat President Bush, the Democratic primary has become about who can be most like Dean. Populism is the new flavor of the month for the other leading candidates, but the language that each candidate employs is ultimately indicative of their populism.

When Lieberman makes a speech, he calls himself the man to take back America. When Dean makes a speech, he tells his audience, "We're going to take back America. You have the power!" Indeed, the other candidates are working to retool their message in the wake of Dean's amazing rise to prominence.

We are still months away from the first primary, but it is clear that the Democratic race will ultimately be a contest between Howard Dean, Dick Gephardt and John Kerry. A 10th potential candidate is out there in the form of retired Gen. Wesley Clark, whose entry would change everything.

But Dean, according to the latest Zogby poll, is running at 24 percent in Iowa and 38 percent in New Hampshire. In a field of nine, these are astounding leads. Of course, the race is far from over, but at the very least, Dean has revitalized the Democratic party into a group of Americans eager to take this country back. And Dean was correct about what he told me in February.