On the campaign front, Carol Moseley Braun is expected to drop out of the presidential race and endorse Democratic front-runner Howard Dean. Braun, who was the first African-American woman senator, had been polling near the bottom of the nine main Democratic candidates. She was only the woman running for the party’s nomination. Dean welcomed the endorsement. He said “She’s a principled person. We just hit it off. I like her a lot. It’s going to be a big help to us.” Her aborted run for president is expected to help Braun rehabilitate her image. She lost her Senate seat after only one term in part due to allegations of improper campaign spending and a controversy over a secret visit she made to Africa where she meet with Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha.