Did He Lie to Me?

I was about to head to the gym this morning, when someone called me about a story in the L.A. Times. Here's a recap... Tom Vilsack ran for President. Vilsack went into debt. He dropped out. Vilsack endorsed Hillary Clinton. That same day, the Clinton campaign said it would help Vilsack pay off his bills. Two days later, Vilsack told me that wasn't the case. (You can watch the story here)



He would pay back his own bills, he said. About four months later, the L.A. Times figured out Clinton backers have also been giving money to Vilsack's now-defunct, but still-in-debt campaign. Hmmm...

It reminds me of a day in 2004. John Kerry won the caucuses in January. Christie Vilsack had endorsed him. Her husband hadn't. After the caucuses, I was in the Governor's office with several other reporters. We asked Vilsack if he would endorse Kerry. He told me "no". The next day, the Des Moines Register reported Vilsack would endorse Kerry. I later found out that Vilsack already knew at the time he was endorsing. He said his staff said it would be o.k. to release his decision to the newspaper. I wonder why he just didn't tell that to me and the other reporters standing with me? I wonder why he told me he'd pay off his own bills? I wonder...