Opinion: Oprah confidant vs. Clinton’s mom

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Oprah Winfrey’s backing is the gift that keeps on giving for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

Today, while Obama is tied up in Des Moines at a candidate debate, Winfrey’s main gal pal, Gayle King, will be singing his praises at get-togethers attended by women who remain undecided as Iowa’s Jan. 3 caucuses approach, the Chicago Tribune reports. Later, Obama is to join King in Dubuque at another event targeting women voters.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign also has women voters on its mind as part of an intensified effort to make up for lost ground in Iowa (a problem probed this week by the New York Times and the Washington Post). Clinton’s mother, Dorothy Rodham, is featured in an ad that just began airing in the Hawkeye State.

The brief spot couldn’t be more homespun -- in it, the 88-year-old Rodham extols her daughter as a ‘good person’ who is helpful and empathetic and has never been envious of others (we don’t know why that latter point is being broached, but there you have it).

-- Don Frederick