Why, then, was Longacre rallying for Dean? "I was for Dean until Wesley entered the race," he said. "I know I have to make a decision, and I wanted to see Dean up close."

Others have gone further than Longacre. Along with his wife, Lauren, John Windle, a 48-year-old from Indianapolis, was an early Dean supporter, but after seeing Clark speak this week, he's hoping the general wins the nomination.

Clark and Dean are being powered by the same dynamic, Windle said. "Dean and Clark are both outsiders fueled by grass-roots disenchantment with the Washington/congressional wing of the party. And believe me, both Dean and Clark supporters want to beat Bush so bad it's palpable."

"These people aren't jaded Iowa caucus voters waiting around for a personal pitch from John Kerry in the living room -- they went out and built a movement," he said. "I think their outsider status and similar trajectories will serve to unite their supporters around the ultimate winner."

Windle says this even though he knows that Clark is surrounded by Clinton hands and his Democratic credentials are in doubt.

As the American Prospect reported, there's even some question over just how grass roots the Draft Clark movement really was. The Prospect quotes an embittered Draft Clark activist saying, "My operative theory is that a bunch of political insiders decided to recruit a candidate and created a fake draft movement to pressure him."

This matters little to Windle, because his switch to Clark was purely strategic. He sounds almost wistful speaking about Dean's performance in the Thursday debate -- watching him, he says, "I remembered why I really like Dean so much. I just find his strong stances on issues and the way he puts it across very appealing." In the end, though, "Clark has all the tools to win a landslide. He's practically bulletproof to the typical Republican attacks."

People like Windle suggest that the Dean campaign may have to start worrying about defectors, but so far most say they're not going anywhere. Mike Carvalho was among a group of eight people who came from Philadelphia to hear Dean speak. Those who think Clark is going to steal Dean's thunder, he said, "are underestimating what's already been built. We're not going to be derailed."

After the 2000 election, said Carvalho, "A lot of us felt powerless, like no one speaks for us. Dean speaks for us. He believes in us."

Dean has given these people a sense of community that scarcely exists anymore in American life.

Tom Z. Bleck, a 54-year-old documentarian, stands in back of the bar where Dean's followers have gathered. He has a video camera with a microphone and a sign saying, "Tell Us Why You Support Howard Dean," and people are taking turn testifying to Dean's galvanizing, inspiring effect on their lives.

Gesturing at the people packed into the cavernous space in the middle of a workday, he says, "You don't see this with most of the other campaigns. I guarantee you, not many bars are full of people watching the debate like this." Clark, says Bleck, who voted for Nader in the last election, is an attempt to "short-circuit" the movement, but it will "short-circuit itself."

And if it doesn't? If Clark defeats Dean despite the thousands of people packed into bars and living rooms across America to cheer Dean's every word? "Clark's a very good candidate," says Bleck. "If he wins the nomination, I will totally, totally support the man."

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