Last night I saw Tom Harkin in San Francisco, checking into the same hotel that Al Gore is at...

[Pachamama]

Meanwhile, I just asked the question to the DU if anybody knows who Tom Harkin has endorsed (if at all) for the Presidency....So far, I have only heard that his wife is supporting Hillary, but Tom Harkin has not committed to anyone yet....

Anybody got a theory or explanation for why Tom Harkin, a Senator of Iowa, would be in a downtown San Francisco hotel, the very same hotel that Al Gore is at? Meanwhile, when I saw him in the lobby, he was with Richard Blum (husband of Diane Feinstein) and some of the people I was with know Richard Blum, so we went over and they were talking about a special dinner they were attending that evening.

Any ideas my fellow DUers? :shrug:

[liberalnurse]

1. I believe he is supporting Hillary.

O8)

[Pachamama]

4. You have to admit its an interesting coincidink him being in the same hotel...

Maybe they are friends, but I got a sense from the conversation that there was some big dinner to discuss business over some political issues...

I just wondered if Harkin had committed yet or maybe, maybe he was there to advise Gore.... :eyes:

[janx]

6. No tinfoil accusations from me!

Yes, it is weird that Harkin would be there with Blum in the same hotel where Gore stayed.

YES. It's weird--especially the timing. Nothing can be concluded for certain about it, but your observation is an astute one. :hi:

[Sanity Claws]

2. He's trying to find his heart

He knows he left it somewhere in that city.

C'mon the city isn't that big. It could be just a coincidink that Gore and Harkin are at the same hotel. If you saw them eating dinner together, that'd be a different story.

[Pachamama]

5. San Francisco isn't that small...and when we were standing there, it was very clear that the dinner

they were going to involved Gore....

That's why I am asking what their reasons for meeting could be....

[janx]

7. Did any of this involve Sen. Boxer?

Maybe that was the overlap...?

[Pachamama]

18. It might...however if Harkin was there to support Boxer, wouldn't it have made sense for him to be

at the actual fundraising event and to even enjoy the music of Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne?

Just saying....

[Gman]

3. It could be nothing

I suspect there is some fundraiser Harkin is going to, or maybe he's speaking to some small but influential group over the weekend. I doubt it has anything to do with Gore directly.

But then again.. maybe.

[janx]

8. Um...I hate to speculate about this; I really do, but...

Whom did Harkin endorse last time...? (I'm trying to tell myself that I'm "misremembering," but I don't think so.)

[AlCzervik]

9. Dean.

[janx]

14. I did not "misremember" then.

Hmmm...

[AlCzervik]

15. i was a Dean Person.

I still love him, he still makes me feel hopeful when i see him.

[janx]

16. Same here...a Deaniac to the core!

My question was a rhetorical one. ;-)

[hedgehog]

10. Maybe he was trying to get Gore to endorse his candidate?

[Virginia Dare]

11. If I know Tom, it was a reliably union hotel...

maybe he is speaking somewhere in the area this weekend, lots of conventions in San Francisco?

[justgamma]

12. Senator Harkin has said that

he will not endorse a candidate in the caucus. He said that last time he endorsed Howard Dean and it didn't work out well. (He said that last with a smile)

[janx]

13. A painful one, no doubt. n/t

[SomeGuyInEagan]

17. Was it the Westin?

There was a Boxer fundraiser scheduled there for the 11th, from 4 - 6 p.m. Gore was supposed to be there, according to Kos:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/11/1404/1629

[Pachamama]

19. Right - I was at that event, sat stage left with Boxer, Raitt, Browne, Gore etc.

And Harkin wasn't there....But as I said, he was at the same hotel, with Richard Blum (husband of Dianne Feinstein) and they were talking about a special dinner after the event.

My point, is that I am not sure it had to do with Boxer, but rather that it was a meeting of "advisors/supporters" of Gore for strategizing....

[Cetacea]

20. Interesting,

That Harkin did not appear with Gore seems auspicious to me. Surely they had to at least have said hello to each other...

The energy in that building must have been incredible!

[proud patriot]

22. Indeed

:think:

[hedgehog]

21. You know what's really wild about this post?

People like us are gossiping and speculating about people like them.

[Pachamama]

27. Well, should I next time not mention this kind of insider observations?

I don't know what it means, I just know that it was unusual and he wasn't part of the Boxer/Gore event and I wondered what might be happening.

[hedgehog]

29. No, no, keep posting! Even last time around, your observation

would have been insider information. Your posting is proof that the Web has made it possible for the grass roots to get the information that used to be reserved for the elite.

[KharmaTrain]

23. Ever Heard Of A Fundraiser?

They happen all the time. Since there's a lot bigger money in San Francisco than Des Moines, that's where you go. Good chance a ton of cash was raised...plenty to pay Tom's hotel and airfare as well as several others. These things are very common this time of the year and probably was scheduled around the Senate's week off.

[Pachamama]

25. Yes, I organize fundraisers and participate in them quite often...

I was at the event and sitting up front with the VIP's and as I mentioned earlier, I just thought it was very interesting to see him there since no one I knew with the Boxer event seemed to know why he was there.

My whole point was that he was meeting with Al possibly to discuss certain matters....

[bettyellen]

30. Ever heard of treating people with respect? not assuming they're as stupid

as your usual crowd?

[book_worm]

24. people sure can read something into everything

I think he was probably there for the same fund-raiser for Sen. Boxer that Gore attended.

[Pachamama]

26. No, he wasn't...that's the whole point of why I posted this...n/t

[RestoreGore]

28. OOOO that must mean something

Senators never stay in hotels in SF.

[DavidDvorkin]

31. Tea leaves

We have to be careful not to read them, because random associations can look like meaningful patterns when they're not.

[dsc]

32. He has said he won't endorse anyone