# Endorsement



Fifth District Endorsements

In the U.S. House district five Democratic primary race, Matt Campbell has done well at picking up labor endorsements.  There is one thing that stands out to me about this race's endorsements.  The only endorsements by politicians have gone to Mike Denklau.  Two highly regarded former politicians, Roger Wendt and Berkley Bedell, believe Denklau to be the best candidate to represent our district.  The only politician endorsements Campbell has are the ones he wants to fool you into thinking he has.  Throughout the campaign, a large portion of photos on Campbell's website and on his literature show him with either Vice President Joe Biden or U.S. Senator Tom Harkin.  These are misleading as neither politician has endorsed him.  This type of political maneuver which can be successful, but also dishonest reminds me of the 2002 Newark, NJ Mayoral race.  Incumbent Sharpe James sent out literature with him pictured with Bill Clinton to trick people into believing he had been endorsed.  This tactic helped James defeat challenger Cory Booker.  I am not fooled by Campbell's tactics.  I will be supporting Mike Denklau, the honest candidate, on June 8th.

Des Moines Register Columnist Rekha Basu: "This moment belongs to Obama, he promises a new chapter"

Amazing endorsement of Obama by Basu! 

BY REKHA BASU • THE REGISTER

December 19, 2007

I remember wishing Hillary Clinton would run. Not last January, when she announced, but before the 2004 election, when someone with her intellectual heft and stature was needed to stand up to the Bush/Rove/ Rumsfeld cabal and dismantle its agenda.

But Clinton didn't run then, and when she jumped into this year's race, days after Barack Obama, it was a different field and a different moment.

This moment belongs to Obama.

This newspaper has endorsed Clinton on the Democratic side. I respect its decision. But after sitting through most of the same candidate meetings, watching, reading, listening and searching my conscience, I've concluded Obama is the one who can best pull off what needs to happen.

Clinton is smart, hard-working, gutsy and tough enough to absorb all the muck that's come her way. But Obama is simply a better candidate. He's that rarest of leaders, combining roots in white Midwestern America with black Africa, and experience both organizing in barrios and editing the Harvard Law Review. He's got idealism, compassion and intellect. And he lacks the baggage Clinton comes with, including all the controversies that swirled around her husband's White House. Nor is he compromised, as she has been, by the Senate vote that got us into this quagmire in Iraq.

Clinton is likable – and polarizing. But Obama is a uniter whose very life experience promises a new chapter for America.

 Who can unite a divided public and excite people's sense of possibilities? That's where Obama leaves the rest of the pack behind.

Momentum is a hard thing to quantify. It almost has to be understood viscerally. I witnessed it in Hy-Vee Hall a couple of weeks ago, sandwiched between an unprecedented 18,000 people, all sharing a palpable sense of enthusiasm and hope. They were black, white, Latino, Asian, old, young, middle-aged and disabled.

Many had probably come to see Oprah. But when it was Obama's turn, he had them mesmerized. Some cheered and waved signs in the air. Some hugged one another, and some even got teary. It was as if no one could quite believe this youthful but commanding man, who spoke their language and echoed their dreams, might actually run America.

Now is also the time to signal the world that America is not a monolithic dinosaur but dynamic and evolving, harnessing its diversity to enhance its strength. Obama could do that.

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/OPINION01/712190340/1036/Opinion

Sen. President Pro Tem Danielson Endorses Chris Dodd

Chris Dodd & Jeff Danielson
Big news out of Cedar Falls today. Iowa State Senate Pro Tempore Jeff Danielson has endorsed Chris Dodd for President. Danielson is the first member of the Iowa Senate leadership to endorse a presidential candidate.  In addition to the endorsement, he will serve as a Co-Chair of Dodd’s Iowa Steering Committee, and a member of Dodd’s National Steering Committee.

Danielson is a Navy veteran and a fire fighter in Cedar Falls.

“When it comes to protecting this country and strengthening our communities, proven leadership and experience matter,” said Danielson.  “I am supporting Chris Dodd, because he is the candidate I trust to keep America safe and keep our middle class families strong.  Time and time again, Chris Dodd has shown not only that he has thoughtful, bold ideas, but that he has the ability to pull people together to get them done.
 
“With the stakes so high for our country in this election, Chris Dodd is the proven leader we need in the White House and the proven winner we need as our Democratic nominee.  I am proud to be endorsing Chris Dodd, and I’m ready to go to work across this state on behalf of his campaign.”

Iowa blogger Lynda Waddington has more on the Danielson endorsement and a slew of links to other positive events and coverage for Senator Dodd of late.

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