By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

Posted Nov. 13, 2007 - During the 2000 presidential race I met David Yepsen, the dean of Iowa politics. Every word Yepsen writes in his Des Moines Register column is coveted by those primary vote seekers campaigning in the Iowa.

Yepsen is to politics what Jay-Z is to Hip Hop – the man.

So I couldn’t help but notice when he praised the speech of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) during the Iowa Democratic Party’s Jefferson Jackson Dinner last Saturday night.
Yepsen wrote, “The passion he showed should help him close the gap on Hillary Clinton by tipping some undecided caucus goers his way.”

“His oratory was moving, and he successfully contrasted himself with the others especially Clinton without being snide or nasty about it,” Yepsen said.

Now that’s a great review, and I’m sure the other five candidates noticed. Yepsen said the other speeches were “good” but gave Obama the highest mark of “excellent.” The dinner was attended by 9,000 donors, and party activist with a tremendous amount of influence over the party’s faithful.

But this wasn’t the only good news for the Obama campaign within 24 hours. In the other early primary state New Hampshire, political columnist Elaine Kellerman made this prediction in the Concord Monitor: “Barack Obama is the only Democrat who can beat the Republican in the general election.”

Kellerman sited a Time magazine article titled “Obama’s Red State Appeal. She wrote “He can draw votes from across party lines. He is the only Democratic candidate with support from Democrats, independents and Republicans. “

I can’t argue with her premise. Anyone hoping to win the presidency will need crossover voters. But both of these articles say more about Obama’s challengers.

There continues to be discussion regarding frontrunner Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) overall appeal. She’s been working to convert her critics and win over the undecided.

Obama’s speech did land one barb on his rival’s during his speech in Iowa. “When I am the nominee of this party, the Republican nominee will not be able to say I voted for the war in Iraq, or that I gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran, or that I support Bush-Cheney policies of not talking to leaders that we don’t like,” Obama said.

This was a good week for Obama, one down and eight weeks to go.