Tom Harkin is an 800 lb Gorilla

No, no, no ... (fake Georgetown dinner party laugh, sips glass of Madeira) ... Iowa's Senator is not literally an 800 lb gorilla, god almighty: but what he is is incredibly influential within the party. As the joke goes -- what do you give an 800 lb gorilla. Answer: anything he wants.

And that is how Senator Harkin is being treated by those slaphappy Democratic hopefulls. Everyone wants that big fat juicy Harkin endorsement-- it's hotter than Mare Winningham in ... in ... it's hotter than Mare Winningham in ... strike that ... Mare Winningham was never hot in anything except, maybe, a cardigan.

Anyhoo: In Iowa, the Senator isn't God; God quite frankly just doesn't have Harkin's positive public opinion numbers. (makes repentant gesture, sips gingerly from tumbler of Cutty Sark, begins to blog again)

But in the end there are only two contenders that the Senator is wrestling with according to Carl Hulse's article in the Old Grey Lady.
Is it going to be the surging Dean or is it going to be his old comrade Dick Gephardt?

If Harkin picks Dean, it will be a massive bitchslap heard round the nation, for no one -- no one -- has done more over the past 20 years for the farmer, the manual laborer and the midwestern union member than Dick Gephardt.

But Harkin has to ask himself: haven't we been down this road before? And yes, indeed he has: often. As often as Tara Reid has crawled across a dirty barroom floor in search of The Porcelain God. Gephardt has made mistakes over the years and has never been able to fully realize the weight of the Iowa endorsement. He makes the catch, as he has in the past, and then he fumbles.

Dean's campaign is a phenomenon and Harkin knows it -- he sees the futurity of Dean and the internet progressives:

"'It has been impressive what he has done,'" said Mr. Harkin, who invoked a late friend and fellow liberal in the Senate.'Paul Wellstone and I always knew that if we continue to compete with the Republicans for the same shrinking pool of voters, we will lose. We have to expand that pool and Dean is doing that.'"

Carl Hulse's article doesn't leave us any closer to knowing who will get the endorsement, but it gets you hungry for the big day ... Okay, so maybe I'm the only one hungry about this. (looks around the room for support)

Whatever.