Whoa.

This is HUGE, especially after all the ink given to this notion that the Evil Clinton Cabal is trying to derail Dean's candidacy for the DNC chairmanship:

Harold Ickes, a leading Democratic activist and former aide to President Clinton, said Friday he is backing Howard Dean to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee -- giving a powerful boost to the front-runner.



"I think all the candidates who are running have strong attributes, but Dean has more of the attributes than the others," said Ickes, who considered running for chairman himself before dropping out in early January. "Many people say Howard Dean is a northeastern liberal, he is progressive, but his tenure as governor of Vermont was that of a real moderate."



Ickes, who is chairman of the political action committee of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said the endorsement was his alone and "does not reflect Sen. Clinton's opinion."



While Ickes would not comment on the Clintons' preferences, he is a close ally and would not be endorsing Dean against their strong objections.



"Senator Clinton is neutral in the race for DNC chair," said her spokesman, Philippe Reines. "She looks forward to working with the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee."



Ickes' endorsement comes at a critical time in the chairman's race and gives Dean almost 50 of the more than 215 votes he would need to win the post.

A search of Google news for "Ickes Dean" yields this amusing result:







The San Francisco Chronicle, the Guardian (UK), and MLive are all reporting the Ickes endorsement of Dean, while MSGOP still has their "Anybody but Dean" story up from Newsweek, and that bastion of fake wingnut made-up shit, Newsmax, claimed five days ago that "Bill and Hill Push for 'Anybody but Dean'".



Heh.