Will the contest vs. John Kerry, or George Bush for that matter, turn on your record?

I hope so, because mine's a lot better than both of theirs.

Has the media been fair to you? Did they come after you because you were the front-runner or because of the themes on which you were running?

No, only because I was the front-runner. I don't believe there's a conspiracy, except for maybe Fox News and people like that. Fox has a clear ideological agenda, but I don't think most media organizations have a clear ideological agenda. I'm not upset about it. My attitude is that if you can't take the heat you shouldn't be running for president. I actually viewed that as a positive thing even though it wasn't any fun. That stuff's going to come out sooner or later so you might as well get the hell kicked out of you earlier than later.

When you were the front-runner there were a series of stories about your record. For instance, that you gave tax breaks to Enron ...

[interrupting] Oh that was all nonsense. Ridiculous! That was just perfect crap, the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of. First of all, what we did was set up captive insurance companies. There were no special tax breaks. Enron had a subsidiary that moved a captive insurance company to our state a year later. These things were so small -- that's the thing that was so frustrating. The New York Times actually put a story on the front page that had been rehashed from 10 years ago. It was the most ridiculous thing. [voice dripping with sarcasm] Enron tax breaks!

What about the temperament issue? Particularly after the speech in Iowa, you've been portrayed as a dangerously angry guy, someone whose finger you don't want near the red button. Your reaction?

That was all mostly nonsense put forward by the other guys -- and [Karl] Rove. You know my test for how well I do in speeches? I turn off the sound and watch. I get about a D- for my first debate in South Carolina [last May]. I was crabby, and boy did I ever look cranky on that television. I give myself an A for the speech in Iowa. I was smiling, I was pumped up, I was having a great time. I'm the first to confess it wasn't very presidential, but ABC News sort of did an apologia the other night. If the clips had shown the audience it would have been great. There were thousands of kids waving the American flag and screaming at the top of their lungs in there. It was an extraordinary scene. People say this campaign is fueled on anger, which is mostly nonsense. It's really fueled by hope. People want to hope again that they really can have the kind of country that they thought this was. That's what really drives the campaign.

Legions of Deaniacs do seem passionately committed to your campaign. But what if you're not the nominee? Do you think they'll come out for whoever gets the nomination?

I think it depends on who the nominee is. Look, I'm going to go out and vote for the nominee of the Democratic Party no matter what, because anybody is better than what we've got now. But the degree of enthusiasm depends on who the nominee is. Obviously, I hope it's me.

But have you brought people into the party who will only participate as long as you're the candidate?

I don't know the answer to that, but I think we've brought hundreds of thousands of people back to this party who were not in it before -- all over the country.

But in Iowa and New Hampshire, you didn't get the promised outpouring of support from new voters.

Well don't forget, we just took a terrible hammering. We just got absolutely hammered in those places. Everybody was saying I was against Medicare, I was against Social Security, there were midnight phone calls being made by other campaigns saying I'm from the Dean campaign I want you to go out and vote, and on and on it goes. So we were certainly getting a lot of attention there, and that certainly wasn't particularly helpful.

You've talked about running a guerrilla campaign at least between now and March 2. Is there a danger that in doing that you'll weaken the Democratic Party and the effort to unseat President Bush?

I don't think so. [Shakes his head] I don't think so.

There were clearly a lot of people in Iowa and New Hampshire who flirted with your campaign, but for whatever reason turned to either Kerry or John Edwards. Will you change your message in any way to bring those folks back into the fold?

I don't know what to do about that. I don't bend my message by polls. I basically say what I think is right and not everybody's going to agree with me. Again, at that time all the other campaigns were engaged in enormous full-scale attacks and it was really hard to fend them all off. The one that was going on right before [the caucuses] was the electability attack. Supposedly I made a gaffe a day. Well, if you look at the gaffes, they were things like saying, "We're not any safer since Saddam Hussein was caught," which is perfectly true. I mean it was really a tough, tough caucus. In New Hampshire I thought we did well. We came back from a pretty devastating loss. We got knocked off our front-runner pedestal, and I was pleased to come back and do as well as we did in New Hampshire.

How have you been changed by two years of campaigning?

I'm sure there are [changes], but I'm not by nature a reflective person, especially when I'm in the middle of combat. I may sort that all out after this is all going on. The way I work is I basically think things through on a subconscious level and all of a sudden it pops up. I know that process is going on, but I'm really focused on the day-to-day stuff we have to do to become president.

After avoiding the spotlight for so long, your wife campaigned at your side in Iowa and New Hampshire. What reaction did she have to all the public and media attention?

Don't forget that she's been mostly exposed to my supporters, so she thought it was great. In fact, today is our anniversary, and I called her and she said, "You know, I'll come out anytime you want." Now, for a woman who spent 12 years avoiding the public life I just couldn't believe it. She is a doctor and we have a son at home, but she'll come back out on the campaign trail, which is great. It's great for me to have her on the campaign trail, because it's great to have her around, not just because people really like her. You know we had all these plans; we were going to let her be interviewed by a local media person who's very nice for her first television interview and we were gradually going to work up. All of a sudden, ka-boom, Diane Sawyer. I thought she did really great.

Will you win any of the Feb. 3 states?

I don't know. We have a shot at New Mexico. What we're trying to do is get 15 percent in every state so we can get delegates out of every state. We'll do reasonably well in Arizona, I think. We have a shot in South Carolina -- that's really being contested heavily. New Mexico is our best chance to win one. North Dakota, I think we'll probably finish in the top three, but I can't be positive.

Won't your campaign be crippled if you don't win at least one of those states?

No, because as I've said we've raised $3.2 million, which I suspect is more than anybody else since Iowa. We're just trying to get the ship righted so we can keep going.

What is your goal at this point? A brokered convention?

My aim is to win, and to change this country. I have no idea what's going to happen. I just try to do things one state at a time, and try to do as well as we can in every state.

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