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Maureen Dowd plays the false indignation card in her pay-per-view column of today, What’s in a Name, Barry?The gist: those mean Republicans are trying to tar the rising star of the Democratic party [legally-mandated descriptor] by making malign associations with his moniker. The GOP's latest mischief - letting people know that the middle name of the junior senator from Illinois is "Hussein." Bunk. Any possible shock value in the Barack Hussein Obama handle has already largely faded. And this being a nation that likes to see itself as open and accepting, I'd say that, should he stay in the race,...

CONCORD, N.H. - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who is mulling a presidential bid, will make his first visit to New Hampshire next month. The Illinois senator will join the state's Democrats on Dec. 10 for a belated celebration of their big win in the midterm election. Obama has traveled to Iowa, site of the leadoff presidential caucuses, but New Hampshire hasn't been on his itinerary. Obama has gotten encouragement to seek the presidency in 2008 from fellow Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who sent a letter to political supporters this week encouraging them to sign a "Run, Barack, Run" petition. "Barack...

Leftist filmmaker Michael Moore has delivered a message to the newly empowered Democrats: "Bring the troops home now. Not six months from now. NOW.”

Rising black star of Democrats connects with evangelicals IN THE latest sign that the “God gap” between Republicans and Democrats is narrowing, one of America’s biggest evangelical churches will this week welcome Senator Barack Obama, the rising African-American star of the Democratic party who has become a leading contender for the 2008 presidential elections. Obama will appear on Friday at the Saddleback church in Lake Forest, California, where at least 20,000 conservative Christians gather each week for services led by Pastor Rick Warren, the evangelical author of the bestselling inspirational book The Purpose Driven Life. At first glance Warren and...

NBC5.com Obama Urges Gradual Withdrawal Of Troops From Iraq Senator Careful Not To Set Specific Timetable UPDATED: 1:13 pm CST November 20, 2006 CHICAGO -- Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who is contemplating a run for the presidency, on Monday called for a "gradual and substantial" reduction of U.S. forces from Iraq that would begin in four to six months. Speaking to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Illinois senator envisioned a flexible timetable for withdrawal linked to conditions on the ground in Iraq and based on the advise of U.S. commanders. Obama also called for intensified efforts to train...

When Sen. Barack Obama slipped into Sen. Robert Byrd's Capitol office one day last year, he was seeking counsel from an elder who had been in the Senate since before Obama was born. Senators these days, Byrd cautioned the young Illinois Democrat, become fixated on the White House. "I remember the advice," Obama said matter-of-factly in an interview with The Associated Press last week. "The importance of senators staying in the Senate." Obama has been in the Senate less than two years. Now he is thinking of running for president. Presumptuous? "In a country of 300 million people," he said...

CHICAGO --Responding to a newspaper report, Sen. Barack Obama said Saturday that arrangements he had with a political fundraiser accused of shaking down companies might have raised the appearance of impropriety. Antoin "Tony" Rezko, whom Gov. Rod Blagojevich has described as a friend and a fundraiser, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he plotted to squeeze millions of dollars in kickbacks out of investment firms seeking state business. He also has pleaded not guilty to obtaining a $10.5 million loan from General Electric Capital Corp. through fraud and swindling a group of investors. Photo/Tony Dejak

Sen. Barack Obama may have thought a wrought iron fence would give him all the separation he needed from indicted Wilmette businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko. But before everything is said and done, our star senator is going to wish he'd done a lot more a lot sooner to distance himself from his longtime political supporter.

Obama in '08 Might Bring GOP Smiles By Peter Brown Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is the flavor of the month among Democrats who are seeking an alternative to Sen. Hillary Clinton for president in 2008. As much as the Republicans would like to see Sen. Clinton as the Democratic nominee, believing she is quite beatable, they probably wouldn't be upset to see Obama as their opponent either. Actually, they might even like running against him better. (snip) Among those who know who Obama is - a minority, and disproportionately those who would fit the definition of political junkie --...

Why Not Obama? By Richard CohenTuesday, October 24, 2006; A19 Ancient Rome had a term for a certain political process: cursus honorum , the honors race. It was, I am told by Anthony Everitt in his new biography, "Augustus," the process by which politicians moved up the ladder. Along the way, they were evaluated until, finally, some made it to the top. Nowadays, the system is different. All you have to do is appear on "Oprah."I am referring, obviously and insidiously, to Barack Obama, who announced Sunday that he might run for president. This followed, of course, the aforementioned...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that it was great her fellow Democrat, Sen. Barack Obama, is thinking about running for president. Polls show Clinton is the front-runner among potential 2008 Democratic presidential contenders and she said Friday during a debate that she has also been thinking about running. "I think it's great that anybody thinks about whatever they want to do in the future," she said when asked about Obama during a campaign stop at a senior citizens' center just north of Albany. "I'm focused on my campaign. I'm focused on reaching as many voters as possible, talking about...

(AP) London, March 2, 1867: Karl Marx, a rising star among centrist economists, announced today the publication of the first volume of his work, 'Das Kapital'.OK, perhaps I exaggerate a tad. But is there any man of the left that the MSM is unwilling to cast as a "centrist" or moderate, particularly when he is seen as a potential Democratic presidential nominee? The Associated Press offers a perfect illustration of the phenomenon this evening. This article reports Barack Obama's indication on today's Meet The Press that, earlier protestations to the contrary notwithstanding, he is indeed contemplating a run for the...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged Sunday he was considering a run for president in 2008, backing off previous statements that he would not do so. The Illinois Democrat said he could no longer stand by the statements he made after his 2004 election and earlier this year that he would serve a full six-year term in Congress. He said he would not make a decision until after the Nov. 7 elections. "That was how I was thinking at that time," said Obama, when asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" about his previous statements. "Given the response I've been getting...

'We've got a nice spirit in here' For the umpteenth time in his short career, Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday deflected talk of a presidential run -- but did show off some diplomatic chops that could come in handy one day. As a war of words escalated inside 57th Street Books between a store manager and photographers trying to snap Obama's picture -- a snotty who/what/where/how come? scrap -- Obama cut the conflict short. "Don't get salty, now," he warned the two camps. "We've got a nice spirit in here." Truce. But lasting peace between media members and those assigned...

In his second memoir in 11 years, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, Sen. Barack Obama paints a picture of America as it is and as he believes it should be. Obama, 45, tackles faith, politics, values, race, opportunity and the United States' place in the global village in the 288-page tome from Crown Publishing Group scheduled to hit bookstore shelves Tuesday. The title of Obama's new book comes from the keynote address he delivered at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004, in which he said the "audacity of hope" is "God's greatest gift to...

Sen. Barack Obama has the charisma and ambition to run for president, but is he ready to answer the tough questions? Foremost among them is whether he will run in 2008, and he's not denying it. But the mania surrounding the Illinois Democrat's book tour is reminiscent of the Colin Powell mania in 1995, when the general leveraged speculation of a presidential run into huge book sales. And that's not all they have in common.

WASHINGTON — When Sen. Barack Obama heads to Africa for a five-nation tour this week, he will take with him a credential no other U.S. senator can claim — and one that may make Africans listen to what he has to say. Obama departs Friday on a 15-day tour that will take him not only to his father's homeland, but also to South Africa, Congo, Djibouti and Sudan. While he has visited Africa twice before, this trip is certain to be different. (snip) Earlier this year, Obama attached an amendment to a pending bill that would provide up to $52...

HOUSTON, Texas - This oil-sated city didn't grind to a halt when George Bush proclaimed last week that America is addicted to crude. Hardly. Oversized vehicles of all sorts continued to scream up and down wide freeways at breakneck speeds, cruising past an endless profusion of strip malls decorated by fast food joints. It seemed appropriate that the Enron trial got under way here the same week that Bush admitted in his State of the Union address that time had run out on the big lie, the one first foisted on a gullible public by the Great Deceiver, Ronald Reagan....

The Times February 02, 2006 The President is a dolt – so how can America be such a success story? Anatole Kaletsky TWO CEREMONIAL events occurred in Washington on Tuesday evening that shone a spotlight on one of the most important but paradoxical features of a modern democratic society. The more widely reported was President Bush’s State of the Union address, a weak and defensive speech even by his undemanding standards. At the other end of Washington, meanwhile, Alan Greenspan, the retiring chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, was bidding farewell to the institution whose skilful management of US monetary...