(2003-12-17) -- Democrat presidential candidate Wesley Clark said today that pop singer Madonna's endorsement brings "United Nations caliber legitimacy" to his White House bid.

"Anytime you want to accomplish something on a large scale," said Mr. Clark, "you need to establish the legitimacy of the effort. Just like the U.S. needs the backing of the U.N. in Iraq and elsewhere, my campaign needed Madonna's endorsement."

The announcement set off a scramble at Howard Dean's campaign headquarters.

"When Howard got Al Gore's endorsement," said a Dean spokesman, "we said that we had locked up the hip-intellectual-metrosexual vote. But in the back of my mind, I knew Madonna was still out there, uncommitted. All I can say is, pundits have written the obituary for the Dean campaign prematurely before."

Meanwhile, candidate John F. Kerry's press secretary, Stephanie Cutter, sent a 'background' email to reporters attacking Mr. Clark, and listing Madonna quotes which suggest that her endorsement was "politically driven." Ms. Cutter's email can be attributed to a "Democrat campaign," but her name and Mr. Kerry's should not be mentioned in news stories.