I think he will get in the race, and I think he has a very good chance of securing the nomination. Hillary Clinton is clearly the frontrunner, but her coronation is far from a given. History is full of candidates who appeared to have the nomination locked up but never got past the primaries, names like Edmund Muskie, George Romney, John Connally. Hillary is an inexperienced campaigner with all the personal warmth and likeability of a rattlesnake. One mistake and her campaign could implode, as backers see their worst fears coming to fruition. She is shrill, arrogant and imperious, and who knows what the increasingly erratic Bill will do. If Obama gets in the race and makes a good impression, as he has a habit of doing, he could find the whole thing falling into his lap. It's not like he will have a lot of impressive competition. John Edwards is a lightweight who can't carry his home state, Gore and Kerry are old news, and the rest are either jokes, Joe Biden, or too unknown, Evan Byah. If he doesn't go all out now, Obama could face a long wait. Eight years in the Senate doesn't exactly do wonders for your chances, if history is any guide. Can anyone name the last Senator who became President? That would be JFK, 46 years ago. At the very least, a strong primary run would pretty much give Obama a lock on the VP nomination, not a bad consolation prize for a guy who was in the Illinios legislature a couple of years ago.