It is impossible to discuss 2008 without asking two major questions:

1. Will Oprah endorse Hillary Clinton; and if so, how will that change the political landscape?
2. Will Barack Obama run?

To the first point, I just don’t know. Oprah is one of the most powerful forces in the country in terms of shaping public opinion and I believe if she endorsed Hillary Clinton for President, it could potentially change the way that middle American “Security Moms” vote.

But, we’ll talk about that later.

The second issue is whether Barack Obama will run for President in 2008. Most people I talk to dismiss the idea all together. Too young, inexperienced, etc. But there are arguments to be made for him running — and remember, nobody likes a Senator after they’ve voted thousands of times.

Interesting article about Obama’s potential run in ‘08.

WASHINGTON — The roster of aspiring presidential candidates seems to grow by the week here in the nation’s capital, where the season of speculation and seduction is in full blossom.

Never mind that the urgent political matter for Republicans and Democrats is the fight for control of Congress, considering Election Day is less than six months away. These days, two questions rise above most others in the echo chamber: Who, exactly, is flirting with a bid for the White House and is Sen. Barack Obama among them?

From Political Wire:

Coming on the heels of Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski’s (R) announcement that he will run for reelection, the Associated Press is reporting that former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles (D) will challenge Murkowski for the governor’s mansion. Knowles, who narrowly lost to Murkowski’s daughter Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in 2004, will seek a third term, while Murkowski is seeking a second.

Rick Santorum has a problem. Besides receiving more money from lobbyists than any other Senator (”We’re number one!”), being the most unpopular Senator in the land (”We’re number one!”), and being named after that unfortunate substance that Dan Savage just won’t let us forget (”We’re number two!”), he’s got a big problem in his traditional base of support, Western PA. Witness an editorial in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette pointing out Radical Rick’s new problem:

Before every election, the Post-Gazette routinely sends letters to the candidates seeking material for the Voters Guide. Back in March, as part of that process for the primary, the newspaper sent a letter to Rick Santorum at his home address, at least the one that he claims. Back from Penn Hills came the letter with a sticker from the U.S. Postal Service checked as “Not Deliverable As Addressed — Unable To Forward.”

That is all you need to know about the nasty dispute between the Republican Sen. Santorum and his Democratic opponent, Bob Casey Jr., in the November election. The whole thing is rooted in one inconvenient fact for Sen. Santorum: He doesn’t live here anymore.

Somebody is going down.