mate with lugar, a gop dude? mmmhhh... interesting...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15132259/site/newsweek/page/2/
Is Obama Ready to Roll?
The Illinois Democrat may be more serious about '08 than you think
Web Exclusive
By Jonathan Alter
Newsweek
Updated: 5:52 p.m. ET Oct. 4, 2006
Oct. 4, 2006 - Ask Washington insiders about Sen. Barack Obama's presidential hopes, and you'll get a pat response: great idea, a cycle or three from now--or maybe this time as veep. But they need to get out more. IÂfve talked to Democrats in 10 cities in the last four months and found Obama fever throughout the Democratic Party. Besides an online Al Gore boomlet, no one else raises a reaction anything like it. More impressively, there's now a distinct possibility that Obama may seize the moment and run in '08. A close associate introduces a note of caution: ÂgIÂfd put the chances right now at no better than 50 percent,Âh he told me Tuesday, as Obama taped OprahÂfs show in Chicago. Fifty percent? For Obama-hungry Democrats, those are much better odds than theyÂfve assumed. Whatever happens in the midterms, Âf08 could get very exciting, very fast.
Among a few prominent Democrats, the conversation has changed from "we wish he would" to "we hear he will." Obama has made no formal decision and probably wonÂft until the end of the year. By then, his new book, "The Audacity of Hope," which hits bookstores Oct. 17, is almost certain to be a best seller. Both Colin Powell in 1995 and John McCain in 1999 used books to launch feverish speculation about presidential bids. In PowellÂfs case, he decided not to run, largely for family reasons.
If Obama declines to make a bid, the explanation will be along the same lines. He has two young daughters and a formidable wife, Michelle, who is no Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Edwards. In other words, she will not push her husband to run, though itÂfs not likely she will prevent him from doing so, says a source close to the senator, who declines to be identified talking about family matters. It will be a decision between the two of them. You have to be a bit nuts to run for president, and in the end the Obamas might be too normal and grounded to put their family through it.
But contrary to popular assumption, Obama's aides see no political reasons not to make the race. His advisers believe his mere four years in the Senate will not be a liability (Abraham Lincoln ran after two years in the House, Woodrow Wilson after two years as governor, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter and now Mitt Romney after four years as governor.) ÂgThe Senate is a political tomb,Âh says one. The longer one stays, the more controversial votes one casts. Gravitas and knowledge about the issues are not problems for Obama, who is plenty fluent on the issues, even if he hasn't established much of a record yet. He has emerged as an unlikely friend and ally of GOP Sen. Richard Lugar, who will acknowledge ObamaÂfs depth on foreign policy.
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