Who's In Fantasy Land Now?

For weeks now, the Kerry campaign has accused the Bush Administration of living in fantasy land where Iraq is concerned. Now, after one semi-coherent speech, Democrats are "giddy" with optimism. What's got them so excited? Well, because for a change, John Kerry did not sound like John Kerry.

Kerry supporters, meanwhile, were giddy, as if they'd just discovered their new love that morning. Timothy Paulson, political director of the New Democratic Majority, rushed up to Kerry as he walked in to tape the Letterman show and gave him his hand. "You're on the right track now, man," he told Kerry. "And he gave me the eye, like 'Are you saying I wasn't before?' "

Like many of the activists who stocked Kerry's events Monday, Paulson originally hails from the Howard Dean campaign. They liked Kerry because he sounded less like himself and more like Dean.

"He finally spoke from the heart," Paulson says. The campaign had given Paulson's group 100 tickets to Kerry's afternoon fundraiser, and after a flood of e-mails they had to request 100 more, a sign, says Paulson, of a mass conversion.

"Everyone's honestly coming around" to Kerry, he says. "I feel like once again we're harmonizing with the candidate. Everyone's like, 'We love John Kerry.' They're not saying, 'We disagree with this or that.' I mean maybe just over coffee, on the side."