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So.....according to the media, Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean has a great impact to the other candidates' position in the caucus race, right? Wrong! An informal call-in poll through a local television station asked if Gore's support of Dean had any impact on your selection of a candidate. 85% of the respondents indicated that it had no impact.

I decided to conduct my own informal person-on-the-street poll with that same question thinking I might get a different perception. Surprisingly, I did not. I even asked a couple of folks wearing a Howard Dean button if they thought it would impact other's decision. They did not. They were excited, of course, that he had chosen Dean as "his" candidate but they felt it really would not sway others into Dean's camp solely because of the endorsement.

I was struck by how little Howard Dean had to say the other night at the televised debate. John Kerry didn't seem to have too many opportunities to speak either.

My "spin" on the evening was that the seven other candidates had more "face time" with the cameras than either Dean or Kerry.

If you agree with the popular feeling that the press is trying to reduce the field, perhaps giving candidates Sharpton, Moseley-Braun and Kucinich more airtime before they disappear was the right thing to do.