Follow The Bouncing ... Numbers

A new day brings new poll numbers in the Democratic presidential campaign here in Iowa. One poll has Howard Dean back on top -- barely. Dean is at 22 percent while Sen. John Kerry is at 21 percent. Rep. Dick Gephardt and Sen. John Edwards are both at 18 percent. All are still within the margin of error. Meanwhile, another new poll has Kerry broadening his lead. He's up to 24 percent in that poll, 5 percent ahead of Dean and Gephardt and 7 points ahead of Edwards. Both polls peg the undecided vote at 13 percent.

Whatever order they finish now, it appears that Iowa has given new life to John Kerry' campaign, which was considered to be in big trouble last summer. And, of course, that could give Kerry a boost in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Anyone working for that campaign will deserve part of the credit, but a big share will go -- rightly so -- to John Norris. Norris is a native of a small southwest Iowa town, Red Oak, which is solid Republican territory. He's worked his way up through the Democratic ranks, having earned a lot of respect during his time at the Iowa Democratic Party and as Gov. Tom Vilsack's chief of staff. He ran against Rep. Tom Latham in 2002 and lost, but made even more friends. In fact, I've heard Democrats say they decided to support Kerry first because of their respect for Norris -- and then they got to know the senator from Massachusetts.

Norris is going to have to use all his organizational skills to make sure that the Iowans who say they're supporting Kerry actually turn out on Monday night. Nevertheless, the energy level is up at the Kerry campaign in these final hours. The candidate is one reason, of course. The polls are a second one and the leadership of John Norris is another.