Friday Morning Caucus Roundup

On the heels of Sen. Barack Obama’s Iraq policy tour through Iowa this week, expect the Obama campaign to release a legislative endorsement announcement very soon. Sen. Joe Biden announced his second House leadership endorsement yesterday, which put the legislative endorsement mini-horserace back in the news. For those keeping score: Clinton is in the lead, Biden is in second, and Obama follows in third place. It would be a major coup if Obama had enough endorsements to announce right now to surpass Biden. Expect the legislative endorsement race to heat up more in the coming weeks, until Iowa runs out of uncommitted elected officials sometime next month…

Sen. John Edwards made a national cable ad buy last night to give his own response to Bush’s primetime “stay the course” address. He chose to advertise on MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann-anchored coverage. It was a significant expenditure, but it will prove worth it both in Iowa, where he provided a contrast to Obama’s ‘nuanced’ position, and nationally, where he raises his name ID and reminds people why he is in the race.

Meanwhile, Gov. Bill Richardson is hammering away at his “no residual forces” message all over rural western and northern Iowa, in a 3-day, 14-city tour leading up to Sunday’s Steak Fry. The amount of time Richardson is spending in small Iowa towns too far away from population centers to get much statewide media is astounding. Quietly, though, he is earning supporters in rural precincts where a few people go a longer way for winning delegates. Richardson, who — let’s face it — has more time on his hands than Clinton, Obama, and Edwards, can put in the legwork to win delegates one hamlet at a time, and that’s what he seems to be doing.

All the Democrats will be in town for the Harkin Steak Fry this weekend, which means it’s time for another sign war. But I’m pretty sure there won’t be many actual signs, if past years’ rules are any indication. Expect campaigns to resort to t-shirts like in 2004. I can’t wait to see a sea of people with “Hey Tom Harkin, these steaks are Clinton-licious!” emblazoned on their chests.

Obama, who headlined last year’s Steak Fry as the freshman Senator and enigma that he was at the time, returns to this year’s event as one in a group of six. Will the different dynamic affect regular Steak Fry attendees’ perceptions?

Eclipsed by the Steak Fry, political reporters seem unaware that an event that is far more important to average Iowans, the Iowa-Iowa State football game, is also happening this weekend. Sen. Chris Dodd and Sen. Sam Brownback will both appear. Dodd will attend the actual game, while Brownback will stump at a tailgate party in the parking lot. It promises to be one hell of a tailgate party… Update: I’m told former Gov. Mitt Romney will appear at a campaign tailgate party, and he will also appear at the College Republicans’ tailgate party where Brownback is set to speak. (Other campaigns are likely to have presences at the game without having principals there. The Obama campaign, for instance, has planned their own tailgate party.)

Sen. Hillary Clinton will make a health care policy announcement Monday morning in Des Moines. Free media from the Harkin Steak Fry won’t last long for the other candidates. The announcement will come just hours before Clinton is set to appear at the SEIU political action committee’s conference in Washington, DC. SEIU members may discuss plans for an endorsement at the meeting, and they announced months ago that they would not even consider endorsing a candidate who had not released a specific proposal for universal health care. For Clinton to have much of a shot at SEIU’s endorsement, she may have to release a universal health care plan before the meeting. So far, the Clinton campaign has not claimed that Monday morning’s announcement will include such a plan (only that it will be “a major health care policy announcement”), but that may not mean much.