Posted By Jeff Zeleny at 5:20 p.m. CST
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who spends considerable time fighting back the impression that his eyes are fixed on a higher office, crossed into Iowa today.
Iowa, of course, is forever playing host to national politicians because it holds the First-In-The-Nation presidential caucuses. Already, seldom a week goes by when there's not a steady parade of ambitious Republicans and Democrats passing through.
But memo to giddy Democrats crossing their fingers that Obama will throw his hat into the 2008 race: He was not there to campaign.
Rather, he dropped by the editorial board of the Quad-City Times in Davenport, following the grand opening of his new office in Moline. The topic of the meeting, according to reporter Tory Brecht's account posted on the paper's web site, was the pending confirmation vote of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.
While Obama visited only briefly today, his presence there remains. His new field office, after all, is only a short hop across that tempting Iowa border.
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Comments
Obama stated at the end of his Meet The Press interview that he will not run for President in '08. So far in his tenure as Senator, he seems a man of his word.
Maybe EZ can answer this -- is it very often that a candidate says explicitly, like Obama did, that they won't run, only to change their mind? And if so, don't they catch a lot of flak for it from the opposition?
Posted by: Jeff | January 27, 2006 5:35 PM
So who says Obama wants to run in 2008? He's young and has plenty of groundwork to do even though the media is doing a lot of it for him right now.
I would advise the Senator to at some point soon dissappear from the lime light and lay low. Work hard in the Senate and build up a record. He can't keep up this intensity and run for Predident 2012. He would be all used up by then.
He should do what Jack Kennedy did. Go out and meet the movers and shakers all over the countryand then make the move, with their support, to seek the nomination. It will make fund raising and if he keeps his nose clean, smooth his way to the nomination.
Posted by: Taz | January 28, 2006 10:44 AM
He didn't say he would not accept a Vice-Presidential nod. It is beyond obvious that it will be Hillary/Obama in 2008.
This is an unbeatable combination - unless Condi Rice goes for it, too.
Posted by: Ed | January 28, 2006 2:08 PM
ANOTHER Obama article? How obsessive. How tiresome.
Posted by: Bruce | January 28, 2006 5:16 PM
I'm a Republican and I say "Lets put the O in '8"
Posted by: J.P. | January 28, 2006 7:56 PM
AREN'T YOU TIRED OF THIS MAN OF RHETORIC? WHERE'S THE BEEF!
Posted by: john f. michela | January 29, 2006 5:56 AM
I think there is no way Obama runs as VP with Hillary-- he's much too smart for that. Hillary is too divisive a politician, and he is fashioning himself as a rational uniter. Although she plays well on both coasts, she can't win the heartland (think Kerry or Brokeback Mountain). Let the Dems nominate Hillary to much fanfare and backslapping, only to have the Repubs trump them by offering Condi who will win. And stand back as Condi's administration crumbles in a Republican scandal, leaving the distinguished Senator from Illinois a clear field to clean up in 2012.
Posted by: Terry | January 29, 2006 7:16 AM
Are we sure Sen. Obama was in Iowa? He didn't have a phalanx of adoring media doing "special reports" from Iowa, so I wasn't sure it really happened. I mean, look, other than being too liberal I have no beef with Sen. Obama, but the coverage he gets is nothing short of fawning.
Posted by: Craig | January 29, 2006 7:04 PM
Barack Obama went to Iowa! To talk about Alito!
What, pray tell, did he say? You seem to have forgotten that part, or a link to the article you discuss.
Congratulations: this is the most boring blog post I have ever read.
Posted by: Edward | January 30, 2006 4:05 AM
The only thing Obama has done is jump when called on by Sen. Durbin or Kennedy. Cliff
Posted by: cliff | January 30, 2006 8:12 AM
People say Obama should wait to run until he has a longer record in the Senate and lays more 'groundwork'.
I say he should run in '08 and not as VP. To heck what he said on Meet the Press. Russert's annoying and we need Obama now.
To those who say he needs time in the Senate: Some say that the longer record in the Senate is what did in John Kerry. Once you are there for any length of time you end up leaving a voting trail that is there forever and can bite you later.
To the groundwork question: what sort of 'groundwork' does he need? He's not putting in plumbing here. He would be running on the Democratic ticket for president. The organization has a groundwork in place.
Let's face it. He's strongly electable NOW.
I say forget Hillary. I think Barak should run on his own and he would win, period.
Posted by: Fast Eddie | January 30, 2006 3:54 PM