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Thought it was a pretty good day for the Dean swarm, or the "Iowa Storm" as the 3500 Iowa Dean volunteers are called, what with the announced endorsement of C.M. Braun. My Dean leaners are feeling a bit nervous though about some of the latest polling number which are now showing a somewhat hotter race, depending on the poll. There is talk that the relentless sniping at Dean from virtually all the contenders, save Edwards, is beginning to take a toll, particularly on a press corp that's hungry for drama.

The mid-day news is Iowa is all about the new leader in the Democratic presidential race. Sen. John Kerry, with 21 percent, has inched to the front. Howard Dean has fallen 4 points to 20 percent, where he's tied with Rep. Dick Gephardt. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina has climbed a few points to 17 percent. They're all within the margin of error.

The question now: Is this poll reflecting the aforementioned voter volatility or are we seeing a real trend? Actually, Kerry is only up marginally, but Dean was at 29 percent just a few days ago. He's receiving a few endorsements today, notably for Carol Moseley Braun, but it's uncertain how much, if any difference that will make in Iowa. We'll know on Monday whether the polls are wrong, as is often the case, or if Dean has gone into a late-race freefall.

I saw the announcement on CNN this morning that Carol is dropping out of the race and giving her support to Dean? I'm not sure this is going to help him much as she didn't have a huge number of followers on the books (there were a number of people I talked to who put her at or near the top in credibility and stand on the issues but one in particular said he couldn't afford to giver her his vote when so much was at stake-getting control of the white house)

Iowa activists are still making up their minds and, apparently, still changing camps with just four days until the presidential precinct caucuses.

The Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby Poll released last night had Howard Dean down to 24 percent with Dick Gephardt and John Kerry tied at 21 percent. The gap was within the margin of error. John Edwards was fourth at 15 percent.

Just to make things more interesting, notes Des Moines Register political columnist David Yepsen, pollster John Zogby says it's a three-way race for more than one reason. Kerry is "surging and he actually led the pack on Monday with 25 percent for the day. Dean had his worst single day with only 18 percent."

There was a story in local newspaper the other day. One of its reporters had captured a couple from Vermont as they canvassed their neighborhood last weekend in support of Governor Dean.

The couple indicated that this was the first time they had ever done anything like this before. When asked what they had learned from the experience, they indicated that they were really surprised on the true level of interest New Hampshire residents pay to the primary process. They had expected signs of support for the various candidates wherever they went and strong support for one candidate or another at this stage of the game.