Dean, like Truman, is a no-nonsense, plain-speaking guy who loves to give 'em hell.

Howard Dean was an unknown in 1991, and he remains a mystery even after holding center stage in the longest gubernatorial run in more than two centuries. He defies labels, following a pragmatic, not partisan, path. Perhaps because he is a doctor he focuses on the immediate problem at hand, tries his best to solve it and then moves on.

What is most surprising about Dean is how old fashioned he is. Our first baby boomer governor harkens to a time gone by, a time when families were strong and values deep. He is patriotic, a strong law-and-order man who believes in the American dream and expects people to do their best to climb the ladder. By themselves. With no help from government.

He hates dependency -- whether it is drinking, drugs or welfare -- and abhors debt. A balanced budget is so basic nothing else is possible. Families are at the center of Dean's personal and political worlds. Commitments to his children come first and he favors a world in which that's true for others.

Over the years Dean has angered just about everyone at one point or another: The left, the right, the business community, the environmentalists, the property-rights advocates, the doctors, health insurers, farmers and developers all have been unhappy with Dean decisions.

He is, by his own admission, 'an odd kind of Democrat.' When he assumed office more than a decade ago, his fixation on balancing the budget was seen as a political necessity. Analysts said that the true tax-and-spend liberal would emerge once he won re-election in his own right.

It never did. As the years have passed, the Dean of 1991 has remained: a fiscal conservative, a social moderate and a friend to business interests.