Edwards and Kerry set to pick up Iowa Paper Endoresments.

I think the Dean and Gerphardt people are worry. Edwards is taking around undecided support that should lead towards Dick and might pick off some week supports and Kerry is taking the "Yippe" undediced vote who should go to Dean. I can see all four in their 20's on election night which would be a fun mess to watch.

	Hit Me, Please! Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC Help Keep "The Duck" out of the White House!

...will endorse South Carolina Senator John Edwards

North Carolina should be so lucky.

South Carolina Senator John Edwards

Brilliant.

Well he has blend the two so he can do were in SC.

Is the Iowa caucus winner take all?

Methinks Dean is toast, he just don't know it yet.

I'm not trying to insult or slight you. Is English not your native language or are you really tired tonight?

Tired. I did not even pick up on Who tv error at first about Edwards.

No Dem caucus/primary is winner-take-all anymore. Technically, they're not even statewide. Starting this election, the Dems will award all their delegates proportionally in each congressional district. Whoever gets 15% or more of the vote in each district will get a proportional share of those delegates.

Iowa's Largest Paper Endorses Edwards

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Iowa's largest newspaper endorsed North Carolina Sen. John Edwards for the Democratic presidential nomination while three other Iowa newspapers went for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in weekend editions

The Des Moines Register backed Edwards and called him a cut above several well-qualified candidates despite the fact that he doesn't have as much experience as other Democrats.

"John Edwards is one of those rare, naturally gifted politicians who doesn't need a long record of public service to inspire confidence in his abilities," the newspaper said in Sunday's editions.

The Register wrote that the major contenders aren't far apart on repealing the Bush tax cuts and redirecting the money into health care and education and conducting a foreign policy that engages rather than isolates other nations.

Howard Dean's slogan is to "take the country back," the Register said, "but it is Edwards who most eloquently and believably expresses this point of view."

The Quad-City Times in Davenport, the Iowa City Press-Citizen and the Hawk Eye in Burlington endorsed Kerry, saying his foreign policy experience makes him the best candidate to face President Bush in the fall election.

The Quad-City Times cited another Kerry quality: an ability to listen.

"He ponders questions, asks follow-ups and answers thoughtfully," the newspaper said. "That quality and extraordinary record of public service make him the best potential president among the crop of contenders in Iowa."

---

Sen. John Edwards challenged his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination on Saturday to join him in signing a pledge never to accept money from Washington lobbyists.

"I am promising and making it clear to every American that I will never take any money from a Washington lobbyist," Edwards said. "I never have. And I would challenge the other Democratic candidates to make the same promise."

Edwards attacked the Bush administration for allowing lobbyists to "get every wish granted" and vowed to undertake a series of reforms to change the atmosphere in Washington.

Among the ways he said he would strip power from lobbyists are to ban them from giving money to political candidates, prevent government officials from becoming lobbyists, and pass a sunshine law requiring lobbyists to disclose their activities with top government officials every two weeks.

Edwards said he also wants to crack down on pork-barrel spending, in which lawmakers sneak pet projects into big spending bills at the last minute. He said he would require those bills to be finished seven days before a vote.

The plan includes ending "war-profiteering" in Iraq, which Edwards said extends beyond Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton.

"Look at contributions made by companies that have gotten reconstruction contracts in Iraq," Edwards said. "Take a wild guess who the leading recipient is - George W. Bush."

Edwards said he would stop firms who are bidding on and getting contracts in Iraq from making political contributions at the same time.

---

Volunteers for John Kerry took more than the usual campaign fodder with them when they fanned out in Milford, N.H., to promote the Massachusetts senator's presidential bid on Saturday.

"Hand warmers were being passed out at the door," said Jeremy Berger, 19. "You have to reach voters by talking to them and you can't let the cold stop you."

A reading of 6 degrees below zero didn't stop Berger from touting Kerry for the state's Jan. 27 primary. But if someone had asked him to go snowboarding, "I would have declined," he said, "and stayed inside."

"It's cold," said presidential hopeful Wesley Clark, "what people in New Hampshire told me I should call 'crisp.'"

What brought Beth Kubick to a Clark breakfast rally in spite of subzero temperatures? "It's a little bit wanting to learn more about Clark," Kubick said, "and a little bit wanting a pancake."

Joe Parker, a retired Army colonel from Raleigh, N.C., campaigning for John Edwards, said, "I'm 72 years old ... and I've never been this cold before in my life."

In Berlin, N.H., campaign activists for Howard Dean arriving overnight at a hotel noticed cars still running their engines in the parking lot. Then they found out the reason - it was 23 degrees below zero.

"They left them running all night long so they'd be up and running in the morning," Dean campaign spokesman Matthew Gardner said.

Later in the day, as the Dean press bus passed through Manchester, Gardner noticed a temperature sign that read 6 degrees.

"We were thrilled," he said.

---

Howard Dean was on a roll Saturday, criticizing Republican economic leadership at a campaign stop in Springfield, Ill., when he realized he could be insulting one of the people sitting with him on the dais.

"Not one Republican president has balanced the budget in 34 years is America," Dean was telling the Illinois State AFSCME Convention. "You cannot trust Republicans with your money."

Then Dean remembered that Republican state Sen. Larry Bomke, who represents most of the state employees in the room, was two seats away.

Dean quickly added, "With, of course, the exception of your state senator here, who I know never would have been allowed to sit at this dais if he wasn't a good labor voter."

Bomke sat stoically while the crowd of hundreds of union workers wearing green AFSCME for Dean T-shirts raucously applauded his slams against the president.

---

The nine Democratic presidential candidates have been invited to a debate two days before Wisconsin's primary.

The debate was announced Saturday by its sponsors, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WTMJ-TV and Journal Communications.

The 90-minute debate, which begins at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 15, will be held at Marquette University in the Alumni Memorial Union.

It was not immediately clear how many of the candiates would participate.

---

Associated Press writer David Tirrell-Wysocki in Milford, N.H., Kate McDann in Manchester, N.H., and Nedra Pickler in Springfield, Ill., contributed to this report.

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

I disagree. From Dean's standpoint, assuming he wasn't getting their endorsements himself, this is the best of all worlds. IMHO, Dean needs his opposition fragmented. It's the same thing the Bushes count on in a primary - they've got 20% of the field. The more fragmented the field is the better the 20% looks.