5 Rules to Run By

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4) Beware the Perilous Story Line
As much as anything, what killed Gore in 2000 was the rap that he was a stiff who couldn't stop telling whoppers. Perceptions are jelling that Edwards is callow, Kerry aloof and patrician, Gephardt yesterday's news. Dean? Well, he's from tiny Vermont.

The candidates are worrying as much about how they don't want to be defined as how they do. Media profiles of Kerry feature him rhapsodizing about his Harley and playing his guitar. Edwards spent the fall giving heavy-duty policy speeches. Gephardt peppers his talks with New Democrat words like "responsibility," and he became a relatively early hawk on Iraq. Dean gave up his day job last week, which affords him lots more time to make friends outside the Green Mountain State.

5) Pander with a Drawl
Candidates are wasting no time in building their operations in states that matter. Steve Hildebrand, who ran Iowa for Gore, had pledged his loyalties to Daschle; within an hour of the Senate minority leader's announcement that he was opting out, Hildebrand had already got recruitment feelers from three other candidates.

It's also important to master the fine points of fitting in locally. As a seasoned operative notes, if you're in Iowa you have to know when the Jell-O is being served as a salad and when it's a dessert. And no one can afford to ignore South Carolina, which is expected to hold its primary the first week of February, a week after New Hampshire. South Carolina may be the most crucial test — one that will show which candidate appeals most to moderates, Southerners and African Americans. Such attention is new for a state accustomed to being overlooked by national Democratic politicians. "I've noticed that Joe Lieberman has been using the term 'y'all' lately when he calls me," South Carolina Democratic chairman Dick Harpootlian says with a laugh.

All of which suggests that however wide the field, the fight for the nomination could be all but over only weeks after the Iowa caucuses. "It won't be the distance runner who wins," says former Clinton White House chief of staff John Podesta, a Daschle strategist. "This time it's the sprinter." At this rate, they will all be exhausted before the starting gun.