Vilsack responds to Miller, Fitzgerald

Vilsack campaign guru Jeff Link just called the Radio Iowa newsroom to offer this response to the announcement that Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller & State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald are backing Obama:

"What is your response?" I asked.

"Well, Attorney General Miller is a terrific attorney general and a great politician.  I’m sure he has his reasons for suipporting Senator Obama," Link replied.

"What about Fitzgerald?" I asked.

"Mike Fitzgerald serves the state well.  I didn’t hear his rationale for supporting Senator Obama’s candidacy but I’m sure he weighed the decision carefully," Link said.

"Both of them referred to Obama as the only ‘major’ candidate, suggesting that Governor Vilsack is a minor candidate.  Does that bug you?"  I asked.

"I wouldn’r read too much into parsing every word of theirs.  I think they’ve both had good relationships with the governor.  The governor thinks they’re both outstanding elected officials and you know he’s going to work hard to win the Iowa Caucuses," Link concluded.

John and Jackie Norris of Ames were at the Obama rally with their two children.  John Norris, as you may recall, headed Kerry’s 2004 Caucus campaign and worked on Kerry’s general election effort. Jackie, who is teaching at Johnston High School right now, is a party insider, too, who worked on the Al Gore campaign back in 2000.  John Norris has said he’s backing Vilsack in the Caucuses (Vilsack did, after all, kick Mark Lambert off the Iowa Utilities Board and then appoint Norris to the Board after Kerry’s ’04 loss), but people in the know say the Vilsack campaign has not been seeking Norris’ advice.