On Saturday night the Iowa Democrat who ran for president in 1992 is expected to formally endorse the Iowa Democrat who’s running for president in 2008.

Senator Tom Harkin’s wife, Ruth, spoke for the couple just prior to Governor Tom Vilsack’s “I’m running for president” speech in Mount Pleasant this past Thursday. “Let me be clear — I am here today and Tom will be joining all of us on Saturday because we are convinced that Tom Vilsack will make a great President of the United States,” Mrs. Harkin said.

Nearly two years ago, Governor Vilsack appointed Ruth Harkin to the Board of Regents. She did not mention the recent controversy involving the Board’s seach for a new University of Iowa president during her brief remarks at the Vilsack campaign rally. “He has been a great governor. He has worked hard to keep Iowa schools improving from the lower grades to the universities…and he has made Iowa the nation’s leader in renewable fuel production,” Mrs. Harkin said.

Ruth Harkin told the crowd she has gotten to know the Vilsacks well over the past eight years. “The more I know the more I like and I am sure that is how the rest of the country is going to feel as well,” Harkin said. “…Now I have seen a lot of Iowa campaigns and our family knows a little bit about the Iowa Caucuses and I can tell by my experience and the excitement in this room that Tom Vilsack will win the Iowa Caucuses next January.”

After delivering his Thursday morning speech in Mount Pleasant, Governor Vilsack’s next stop was New Hampshire — the state that hosts the first primary in the presidential campaign. While there, Vilsack took some shots at perceived GOP front-runner John McCain. McCain, an Arizona Senator who was a POW in Vietnam, has called for sending 20-thousand more U.S. soldiers to Iraq to stabilize things. During his time in New Hampshire, Vilsack said that would make a “big mistake bigger.”

On Saturday morning, Vilsack is scheduled to be in Pennsylvanis, visiting one of the homes where he grew up and having coffee with local elected officials. Pittsburgh’s mayor is scheduled to be there.

On Saturday — weather permitting — Vilsack is scheduled to be back in Des Moines for the “gala” that will raise money for his presidential campaign coffers.