The American Spectator

Jimmy Carter . Instead, Dean got a lesson in humility from a man not known for possessing much of it. /p>

Late last week Dean’s staff had been spinning the press in Iowa that a trip to Georgia one day before the caucuses was worth it, especially if it meant getting support from a former Democratic president.

Dean arrived to a warm welcome, some kind words from Carter, and news that the former president had told reporters that he had never extended an invitation to Dean and that the northerner had simply invited himself.

“Governor Dean shows up and everything we thought was planned was now off,” says a Dean adviser in New Hampshire. “No endorsement, nothing. It was like we got shivved in the back.”

It got worse. Carter also told reporters that he had extended an invitation to Dean’s competitor Wesley Clark to come down to spend time with him. It is unclear when Dean’s planned coronation by the peanut farmer got crushed, but a Clark staffer in Washington claimed that on Thursday, when word was leaking out about the Dean visit, both Clark and “a very senior friend to the general” made calls to Carter.

Who was the “friend”?

“Let’s just say he held the same job as Carter did, but was more successful,” says the Clark staffer. “The calls were made to the former president to encourage him not to jump the gun on any endorsements at such a critical time in the campaign. Apparently, President Carter agreed with that assessment.”

p> DENNIS IN DEMAND br> As the Dean team in Iowa was scrambling on Monday night to shore up support in caucuses around the state, including locking in potential supporters of Carol Moseley Braun , they were also reaching out to back-of-the-pack candidate Dennis Kucinich