AP photo by Chris Gardner Sen. Barak Obama, left, greets supporters after speaking at a rally in Bowie, Maryland, Friday, Nov. 3, 2006.

Jay DeLancy, 11.29.06

Illinois Senator Barack Obama is swarming in a media buzz as a potential contender in the 2008 presidential election. Any day now, he is expected to make an official announcement that he will run.

Obama’s election to the U.S. Senate in November 2004 came after a high-profile speech at the Democratic National Convention earlier that summer. This year his book “The Audacity of Hope: Reclaiming the American Dream” became the number-one bestseller on the New York Times list. And he was a recent guest on Oprah.

Now, political pundits and journalists alike are predicting Obama’s presidential bid.

Senator Obama’s shifting comments on the War in Iraq may cost him the nomination, according to the Black Commentator, an online magazine.

“But no candidate can appeal to everyone,” said Amy Black, associate professor of political science at Wheaton College, in Wheaton Illinois. She has studied Obama since his 2004 election to the US Senate.

His voting record against private gun ownership, mandatory sentencing and the death penalty might paint him as a liberal, but the recent midterm success of Democrats came from moderates.

Obama recently gave an address at the groundbreaking of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, D.C. and endorsed Harold Ford, Jr. in the Tennessee Senate race.

“He is trying to position himself as a moderate which will work well with most of the party.” Black said. 

His pro-choice stance and voting record may be a problem with other Democrats because he did not vote on abortion parental notification and on legislation to restrict pornographic video stores and strip clubs.

Those issues don’t seem to worry registered Democrat and Minnesota resident Katy Crosby.

“I think that so far, he's managed to keep the base happy while maintaining a values-oriented persona,” Crosby said. “If he can stay appealing to socially conservative minorities and moderates while advancing a solid party line, he should be in great shape.”

Republican activist and life-long Chicago area resident, Ammon Simon sees Obama somewhat differently. Most Americans were unfamiliar with Obama until his party unveiled him before a national audience during his successful Senate campaign.

“I believe his 2004 speech to the Democratic National Convention really raised his status as a political rock star,” Simon said. “I remember being really impressed with what he said, and being sort of disappointed that I was that impressed, since he was a Democrat and all.”

Simon believes that Obama is trying to repackage himself as a moderate for the upcoming presidential nomination.

“He is trying to portray his image as a moderate uniter, which I believe his record in the State Senate doesn't support,” Simon said. 
 

Amy Black explained that Obama will have to stay the moderate course in order to win. And Republican Ammon Simon concurs.

“He has to beat Hillary Clinton.”