Clinton endorsement

Hillary Clinton today crowned her heavily covered Iowa campaign swing by gaining the endorsement of a politician who once was a darling of the state's Democrats: Dick Gephardt.

The former House minority leader who twice ran for president won the Iowa caucuses during his first bid. But that was back in 1988 --- eons ago in political years. Gephardt, a Missourian, didn't fare quite as well in his 2004 White House campaign.

He and the presumed frontunner in the Democratic race, Howard Dean, spent much of their time attacking each other as the caucuses approached, and the results were disastrous for both. Gephardt finished fourth and withdrew from the race; Dean came in third and effectively ended his candidacy by responding with his infamous "I have a scream" speech.

Gephardt gave up his House seat after 2004 and has been working as a lawyer-lobbyist (what else) in Washington. As with most endorsements, we question how much impact his embrace of Clinton will have. It does drive home the degree to which the Democratic establishment is lining up behind the senator from New York.

Gephardt popped up on the political radar earlier this year as part of a juicy passage in the memoir by Bob Shrum, the longtime operative who headed John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. As part of generally trashing John Edwards, Schrum wrote that in retrospect, Kerry "wished that he'd never picked Edwards, that he should have gone with his gut" by choosing Gephardt as his running mate.

-- Don Frederick

Photo: Dick Gephard; Credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP

Comments

[Madhu]

Wow, I am big fan of BILL CLINTON.. I never expected this statement on this website. It's against the basic ethics. I deeply Hurt not because of we lost , but because of this U turn support which shattered many of fans dreams. THANKS ALOT, I WILL NEVER even think about DEMOCRATS again for such a farce primary. NOT even in 2012, A LION should be LION ALWAYS what ever it faces, thats why we call it as KING.

This is not just my feelings but thousands of us democrats, who voted blindly to a BLIND party. We always LOVE BILL. He is the MAN, the REAL PRESIDENT. We exactly know what to do now.
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