PRESIDENT-ELECT ENDORSES DEAN!

If this is true, wow!

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Former Vice President Al Gore intends to endorse Howard Dean for the Democratic presidential nomination, a dramatic move that could cement Dean's position in the fight for the party's nod.

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, sight of the Jan. 19 caucuses which kickoff the nominating process, said a Democratic source close to Gore.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Dean will return from Iowa in time for Tuesday night's Democratic debate in New Hampshire.

First of all, the non-cynical take: Remember all those silly stories in the news about how people worried that Dean wasn't going to get the black vote? Yeah, those were odd stories, but I can't imagine seeing anymore of them after Mister 92% Of The Black Vote In 200 endorsing the Doctor/Governor. So memo to Howard Fineman and everyone else: knock it off. Actually, Mr Fine, I'm not through with you, but I'll get to that in my next post.

And now, the Gore/Dean idiot blogger sweepstakes!

Which right-wing weblogger and/or pundit will be the first to frame this as a Gore-Clinton split, with Al backing Dean and Bill/Hillary backing Clark?

The candidates are...
Kaus? (so far he's blogged it as breaking news but hasn't done any of his conspiracy-gossip-girl shtick.
Insty?
The corner?
Will Drudge post some sort of "RAGING BILL! CLINTON FUMES OVER GORE NOD" crap?

Stay tuned, I suppose, not that I'll have time to update this...

Anyway, you can pretty much stick a fork in Clark, Gep, and the rest, the nomination is Dean's to lose. Having watched Dean's barnstorming performance at the Florida convention the other day on CSPAN, I must say, I'm pleased.