BOSTON – Just one year ago Howard Dean was hot.

So hot, in fact, the former Vermont governor earned cover stories in both Time and Newsweek after being dubbed the undisputed front-runner for the Democratic nomination and the favorite to unseat President Bush.

In his Tuesday address to the Democratic National Convention, the fire was still there for Dean, but it burned for another.

“I’m Howard Dean and I’m voting for John Kerry,” Dean said of the party’s presumptive nominee for whom he has raised millions of dollars since abandoning his campaign in February.

While Dean’s choice for president couldn’t be clearer, some Maine delegates pledged to his former rivals, particularly Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, faced a quandary of sorts.

Both vanquished challengers this week released their delegates of their obligation to support them during Wednesday’s official count of votes on the floor.

Dean and Kucinich – both of whom differed with Kerry on authorizing the Iraq war – nevertheless have endorsed him. Furthermore, both have asked their delegates to cast their votes for the Massachusetts senator.

For the so-called “Deaniacs,” the decision has been relatively easy. For the most part they – including all seven of Dean’s Maine delegates – count themselves solid Kerry supporters, even sporting new stickers reading “Another Dean Democrat for Kerry.”

“I might not have gotten my first choice in the primary,” said Alison Smith, a 49-year-old Dean delegate from Portland who was among the first in the state to sign up with the campaign. “But I will get my first choice, John Kerry, in November.”

For Kucinich delegates, however, the choice has not been as clear. While many, including Scott Ruffner of Bangor, said they would vote for Kerry in November, his convention vote was still uncertain.

Kucinich’s six-member Maine contingent on Tuesday met with party leaders, including Gov. John Baldacci, to outline a scenario in which they would pledge their support for Kerry but officially cast their votes for Kucinich at the convention.

On the FleetCenter floor, Ruffner wore both a Kucinich and a Kerry button, and referred to the controversy as “at worst a tempest in a teapot.”

Six hours earlier, Ruffner explained the reasoning behind the strategy. He said the progressive voters in Maine still needed a voice.

“There’s a lot of strength in diversity,” said Ruffner before Kucinich, a staunch anti-war candidate, arrived at a Tuesday peace forum in the heart of Boston’s government district to a cheering crowd of about 400 people.

At the forum, noted activist Tom Hayden – one of the Chicago 7 convicted of inciting the riots that disrupted the 1968 Democratic National Convention – compared Kerry to the moderate John F. Kennedy in his potential to be swayed by a progressive movement.

“I think it’s probable John Kerry and [presumptive vice presidential nominee] John Edwards can be transformed, but not without us,” he said.

The relatively tiny Kucinich delegation’s stance – seemingly a distinction of little consequence – nevertheless made waves Tuesday among some party members, several of whom puzzled over why the Kucinich faithful would insist on bucking their candidate’s wishes.

Kucinich, who addressed the issue outside the Tuesday forum, said his delegates’ plans “shouldn’t come as a surprise” considering their dedication to his campaign. In Maine, Kucinich visited several times and placed a respectable third behind Kerry and Dean in the state’s caucuses.

“Whatever decision they make on the floor, we will be united at the end of the day,” said Kucinich, who is scheduled to address the convention today.

Technically, under convention rules, any Kucinich votes would be counted as abstentions, because Kucinich has declined to put his name in nomination.

For their part, Kerry campaign officials had little to say.

“Democrats across the United States and Maine are united behind John Kerry and his lifetime of strength and service,” said Kerry’s Maine spokesman, Jesse Derris, echoing the convention’s Tuesday theme.