by Bill Press - Tribune Media Services
During the 2004 Illinois Senate campaign, I asked a friend of mine in Chicago if he'd host a reception for a fellow talk-show host who was running in the primary. When he told me he was already supporting another candidate, I laughed out loud.
"Are you serious?" I wanted to know. "Barack Obama? Nobody could ever get elected with that name. Especially not after Sept. 11."
Needless to say, I was wrong then. As are those naysayers who insist today that Barack Obama could never be elected president because his middle name is "Hussein." President Barack Hussein Obama? Why not? I'd trust him more than George Walker Bush.
Even though Obama was greeted by 170 reporters on his maiden voyage to New Hampshire - a reception not even John McCain enjoyed in 2000 - the Illinois Senator still faces an uphill battle
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