Blog For Arizona

Senator Harkin Endorses Dean | January 09, 2004 5:40PM

Senator Harkin Endorses Dean!

Well that was fast. The story came in over RSS immediately after posting that Harkin had asked that his office receive no more calls from Dean supporters. I guess the message got through that we wanted him on board.

The results of this endorsement are not certain, but Harkin has enormous amounts of respect and affection from Iowa Democrats. His endorsement of Dean, likely at a considerable political cost from Unions and party officials backing Gephardt, is an enormous leg up in the Iowa Caucus. In fact, it is not going too far to say that this single endorsement may clench victory in Iowa. It is bound to make every news outlet in Iowa, spreading Dean's name and linking him to Harkin's esteem. Many of those undecided about their choice will be persuaded to go with Dean.

There are no assurances, and polling will not detect the effect for several days, at least, but I'll guess that Harkin's endorsement will carry Dean over the 50% mark.

posted by Michael Bryan @ 1/09/2004 06:07:00 PM