(Image Source: The Des Moines Register)

BY LAUREN ZIMA AND ALYSSA CARTEE

ANCHOR CHRISTY LEWIS

The Iowa caucuses are only two weeks away, and GOP potential Mitt Romney just got a thumbs up from The Des Moines Register. Media outlets are calling it a key endorsement. Here’s the Register:

“Sobriety, wisdom and judgment … qualities Romney … has demonstrated … He has solid credentials in a career that includes running and starting successful businesses … Americans are desperate for the Republicans and Democrats to work together. His record of ignoring partisan labels to pass important legislation when he was governor of Massachusetts suggests he is capable to making that happen.”

KGO further explains what brought the Register to Romney’s side.

“The largest newspaper in Iowa backed Senator John McCain’s nomination in 2008. The editorial board acknowledges the Register passed Romney over last time, but now says he’s matured as a candidate.”

USA Today reports the paper’s endorsement could mean a major boost to the candidate’s polling numbers, and quotes a University of Iowa political science professor.

“‘As much as we take pride in Iowa about the caucuses, not everyone can pay attention. … In this GOP race … you want to know what these editorial folks and reporters on the ground think ... There’s a certain weight to it.’”

But a writer for The Christian Science Monitor calls endorsements “fickle,” and says the race is still, quote, “wide open.”

“ ... the real fuel for this most peculiar race – the unhappy Republican voter – remains the biggest and least predictable variable. All evidence suggests that, as unhappy as these voters are about an Obama presidency, they are only slightly more enthused by their choices of candidates to oust him. No newspaper endorsement, it seems, is likely to change that.”

And a blogger for “The Washington Post” says the Romney re-emergence signaled by the endorsement is less about Romney and more about Gingrich.

“The base may not love Romney, but perhaps it has come to appreciate him at least in comparison to Gingrich, upon whom every corner of the right-leaning media is firing. … Unless Gingrich does something to recapture the momentum, his presidential plans will, like so many of his schemes, be unfeasible.”

The Register also criticized Gingrich in its endorsement of Romney -- and even more good news for Romney, he picked up another endorsement -- former Presidential Candidate Bob Dole. Here’s Fox News on why Dole’s approval is meaningful.

“Bob Dole won the Iowa Caucus twice. He’s a veteran here and much-beloved. And two, Mr. Dole worked with Newt Gingrich in the House of Representatives when Newt Gingrich was the Speaker of the House and he was the Senate Majority leader in both ‘94 and ‘96.”

When news of the Register endorsement broke, Romney was in South Carolina, where he got an endorsement from Nikki Haley, the South Carolina governor.