As the Democratic nomination fight moves toward a conclusion, Iowa’s two Toms are both found in the footnotes:

  • CNN reports that as uncommitted superdelegate senators prepare to endorse Barack Obama, “a series of meetings on the topic have been facilitated at different times by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin. Durbin and Daschle are Obama supporters, while Harkin is uncommitted.”

    The Washington Post reports that Harkin and Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., have organized another meeting of uncommitted senators for Tuesday.

    “A lot of us just feel that the sooner that this thing comes to a close, that we have a nominee, the better off everyone’s going to be in our party,” Harkin told the Post.

  • Former Gov. Tom Vilsack, for his part, signed on with Hillary Clinton after his own brief campaign ended.  “It does appear to be pretty clear that Senator Obama is going to be the nominee,” Vilsack said Sunday. “After Tuesday’s contests, she needs to acknowledge that he’s going to be the nominee and quickly get behind him.”

    “Not really the kind of thing your national co-chair is supposed to say,” writes blogger Atrios.