Obama Scores Two Big Iowa Endorsements

Typically you won't see big endorsements like this in Iowa so early, but Obama must have been doing some big time work in Iowa the last few weeks to score these two big endorsements so early.

AMES, IA - U.S. Senator Barack Obama's campaign today announced that Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and Iowa State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald have endorsed Barack Obama for President.
"Between the two of us, we have served the great state of Iowa for nearly 50 years, and we share a deep respect for this state and for the Iowa caucus process," Miller and Fitzgerald said in a joint statement. "Endorsing a candidate this early is no ordinary occurrence in the Iowa caucuses - but Barack Obama is no ordinary candidate. He spoke out in opposition to the war in Iraq before it started, and today he has an aggressive plan to redeploy our troops out of Iraq by the end of March of 2008. We believe that Senator Obama has the vision to meet the challenges America faces, and that his message of hope and unity will lead us to a new kind of politics where we are not defined by our divisions but united by our love of country."
Attorney General Miller and Treasurer Fitzgerald will join Obama Sunday at a campaign rally in Ames. On Saturday, Obama attended packed events in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo."I am honored and humbled that two public servants with such distinguished records of service have offered their support, their counsel, and their endorsements to my campaign," Obama said. "I look forward to working with them, hearing their ideas, and listening to the hopes and concerns of thousands of Iowans as we work together to change our politics and our country."

Why is this so important? Iowa Governor Chet Culver has already announced that he will not endorse a candidate, following the lead of former Gov. Tom Vilsack in 2004 (although Vilsack's wife campaigned hard for John Kerry....). So these endorsements represent the highest levels of state government and will open up the doors to a lot of connections and money in the state. It is also a major coup for Obama to score these endorsements over not only Hillary Clinton, but over Tom Vilsack who had been the Governor in Iowa for 8 years. With Culver sitting out, the only other high profile endorsement to score in Iowa will be that of Sen. Tom Harkin...who will be very cautious in who he endorses after endorsing Howard Dean in 2004 over Senate friend John Kerry. He paid the price later on for slighting Kerry, but Harkin may also be considering retiring and may not give a flip. Otherwise Iowa has three Congressional House members, two of them freshman. Stay tuned.