George W. Bush may be raking in campaign money hand over fist, but among the Democratic presidential hopefuls Howard Dean isn’t doing too shabbily. He’s raised more than any other Democrat during the second quarter of the year, and while this doesn’t exactly make him the front-runner he’s the one everyone’s talking about.

I’ve followed the Democratic candidates with about as much enthusiasm as I’d muster for a high-stakes lacrosse game. But even I can see that Dean is catching on. Which makes me wonder: Does Dean’s growing popularity stem from the fact that people think he’s Josiah Bartlet, the fictional president of NBC’s “The West Wing”?

Jed Bartlet is the kind of president many of us would love to have, and the similarities to Dean are striking. They’re about the same age. Both are from New England. They’re both smart and intellectual: Bartlet is a Nobel laureate and former college professor, while Dean is a Yale graduate and a physician. As a colleague who follows “The West Wing” and happened to catch Dean doing a television interview the other day put it, both men can refer to the classics without coming across as highfalutin.

Bartlet and Dean are both married to doctors, women more in the Hillary Rodham Clinton than Laura Bush mode. Both are mavericks who seem to have appeared out of nowhere, although they really didn’t. They’re also pretty liberal, understanding that the little men and women are the ones who need the government most.

The most striking thing about Bartlet and his “West Wing” crew, however, is that they are principled. Sure, they get worked up over what to do about a presidential aide who’s dating a call girl. But what they agonize over most is how not to compromise their principles for the sake of politics. As Toby, the angst-ridden director of communications would say, “We have to remember why we’re here. And if we don’t use this office to do some of the things we came here for, then what’s the point?”

Democrats have forgotten this, which is why it’s refreshing to have Dean remind us that he belongs to “the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.” In a profile that appeared on the Web site www.thestranger.com, the words used to describe him apply equally to Bartlet: “a muscular Democrat”; “pugnacious and a little prickly”; “doesn’t back down from a fight”; “willing to play political hardball if that’s what it takes to get what he wants.”

Bartlet doesn’t hesitate to order a military attack on a rogue country that needs to be taught a lesson, or to assassinate a dangerous tyrant who’s been plotting against the United States. But he also revs up to fight a rider to a much-needed banking bill that would allow strip-mining in the wilderness.

Dean opposed the Bush administration on the Iraq war and chided the president for labeling the University of Michigan’s affirmative action program a “quota” system. Even though Vermonters were sharply divided over a bill granting civil union status to homosexuals, Dean signed it into law. He also expanded Vermont’s Medicaid program so that every child in the state now has medical insurance. Despite being branded ultraliberal, he balanced the state budget. And he earned a good rating from the National Rifle Association, even though he supports some forms of gun control.

Like Bartlet, Dean is complicated and pragmatic but principled. And with a Republican administration filled with cowboys, zealots and religious fundamentalists lacking in empathy, Dean is appealing.

“One of the things I like about Bartlet is that he combines the better qualities of four or five presidents — JFK’s hair, Reagan’s affability, Truman’s directness, Carter and Clinton’s genteel intelligence,” says my TV-watching colleague. I’d like to have Bartlet as president. But if I can’t, why not a Democrat who’s not afraid to be a Democrat and who has some idea of what that means?

Howard Dean gets more interesting by the day.