One-time Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart will be in Iowa later this month for a speech at Iowa State University, and backers of his 1984 bid for the White House plan a reception. George Appleby, a Des Moines attorney and lobbyist, says Hart told him to play down any talk about Hart running for President in 2004. Appleby was a Hart supporter in ’84.Appleby calls Hart “a brilliant guy” who has a sense of global politics. Hart quit his campaign for President after reporters discovered he was having an affair. Appleby says after Bill Clinton, who survived several sex-scandals, Hart might be able to post a comeback. He says Hart is such and honorable guy that it still breaks his heart that it happened.Appleby, though, has already lined up behind Vermont Governor Howard Dean’s candidacy. Hart will speak January 22nd in Ames at the Iowa State Memorial Union. The topic of his talk is political corruption and campaign finance reform.
