Would you marry for Dean? Well, I wouldn't (and couldn't), but Kathleen Gallagher and Scott Morschhauser did it: they have been going out for two years now. He lives in Iowa and she in Michigan. As she wanted to vote for Dean in the Iowa primary, she decided the most honourable thing to do would be to marry an Iowan. It is just amazing and hopefully worth it. Click on their names for the Des Moines Register article.
Let's begin with Iowa. In another article, Thomas Beaumont of the Des Moines Register reports about Dean's position on the Iowa caucuses:
Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean declared his faith in the Iowa caucuses and used his endorsement Friday by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin to stem the fallout from the ill-timed release of Dean's past criticism of the caucuses.
In announcing his long-awaited decision, Harkin defended Dean's tendency to speak frankly, as he did in 2000 when as governor of Vermont he described the caucuses as "dominated by the special interests."
"Actions speak louder than words. He's been here. He's been to all 99 counties. He now understands the Iowa caucus system is perhaps the most open, fair, inclusive system we have anywhere," Harkin said after an announcement at Dean's Iowa headquarters in Des Moines.
In another story, a lot of papers are reporting Al Gore's campaigning for Dean, incl. the NY Times
"He described himself as the warmup act, and a recovering politician, still "on step nine," and for most of a packed political rally here Saturday, he stood in silent support. But when Al Gore spoke out on behalf of Howard Dean, standing beside him, he roared, and a welcoming crowd roared back.
"It is a feeling that is contagious, a feeling of empowerment," Mr. Gore told his audience at the University of Dubuque near the end of a two-day campaign swing through Iowa on behalf of the man who wants the job he came so close to getting. "We the people still have the power, if we're willing to get involved."
Well, as the NY Times called it a "bittersweet return", the Washington Post tells us, Gore "gladly stumped again - for someone else":
Looking relaxed, rested and ready, former vice president Al Gore returned to Iowa this weekend in behalf of Howard Dean, the man Gore hopes will win the prize that narrowly eluded him four years ago. [...]
Gore chatted and joked and posed for pictures with Dean supporters at each campaign stop. At one point, a young man in the crowd in West Des Moines on Friday evening handed Gore a cell phone and asked if he'd say a few words to the young man's girlfriend.
Gore, who had never met the young man, smiled, nodded and put the phone to his ear: "Hi, Wendy," said the man who was almost president to a startled young woman.
Three more stories from Iowa:
Newsweek's Howard Fineman about the "trench-warfare" going on now. Additionally he tries to explore the limits of "blogs" as an instrument and claiming that the growth of the Dean online community slowed down significantly in the last days.
Dan Balz of the Washington Post reports about the unprecedented flood of Dean volunteers entering Iowa right now. It has a nice description of the Iowa campaign headquarters, too.
David S. Broder also comments about the primary: "These people are so straightforward, so un-cynical, they are irresistible. It's a great place to start the process."
One last story. Richard Simon of the LA Times reports about the Washington DC primary:
Iowa and New Hampshire may be where the candidates are wooing voters, but neither is the location of the nation's first Democratic presidential primary.
But with no convention delegates at stake -- making it what's known as a political beauty contest -- and only four of the nine major Democratic candidates on the ballot, the District of Columbia election Tuesday has emerged as the Rodney Dangerfield of primaries.
Still, the election could prove meaningful to Howard Dean in his efforts to appeal to black voters. Dean will share the ballot with the three long shots among the nine major candidates.
Maureen Dowd has a NY Times Column about Wesley Clark's new sweater. It is ridiculous that he is getting all this media attention about it, but it's the human interest story that sells.
But what is a sweater compared to a wedding?
It would be cool if you could post other interesting stories you found as a comment! Have a nice day!