Gore to Endorse Howard Dean

Hot news flash, Al Gore is expected to announce his endorsement of Howard Dean tomorrow. Articles are now appearing in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, CNN, and elsewhere. From the New York Times:

"This is huge," said Donna Brazile, who was Mr. Gore's campaign manager in 2000. "It gives Dean what Dean has been missing most: Stature. Gore is a major league insider, somebody with enormous credibility that Democrats respect, who can rally the grass roots, and who's been speaking very strongly in the last few months about the direction he wants to take the country in."

Dr. Dean's campaign manager, Joe Trippi, declined to confirm the report. "We're having our event tomorrow at 8 o'clock," Mr. Trippi said. "People can find out who it is then. We're not saying anything."

In the Chronicle:

Gore, who lost to President Bush in the disputed 2000 election, has agreed to endorse Dean in Harlem in New York City on Tuesday and then travel with the former Vermont governor to Iowa, site of the Jan. 19 caucuses which kick off the nominating process, said a Democratic source close to Gore.

In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

AFSCME President Gerald McEntee said Gore's endorsement is more significant than all of Dean's labor endorsements.

"It goes so far in dispelling this idea that swirls around that Dean would not be a good candidate in the general (election), that Dean in some way would be damaging to the Democratic Party," McEntee said. "If there is anybody in this country who wants to beat George Bush again, I think it's Al Gore."

And on CNN's Web site:

Paul Begala, a political adviser for President Clinton and now a host of CNN's "Crossfire," called the endorsement an "enormous boost" that would clearly give Dean momentum going into Iowa and New Hampshire.