Obama 2008. Could it happen?

Newsweek's Johnathan Alter says yes in a fairly glowing article on Obama's chances of running for president in '08. The article also reveals that Obama himself may be more interested in running than previously known.

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. I’ve 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: “I’d put the chances right now at no better than 50 percent,” he told me Tuesday, as Obama taped Oprah’s show in Chicago.

That "50 percent" talk may just be an over-exuberant staffer influenced by Oprah's adoration of his boss. But Barack should be one to watch. However, PB still thinks that Obama is no more than a Veep contender in 2008. Alter may have been Oprahed on this one.