Obama's Plan Is Coming Together

It shouldn't have surprised Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama or top aides when he won the Politico straw poll after giving a passionate, even inspirational speech at a convention of progressives. That's because despite his repeated statements that he wouldn't run for president-several times since his 2004 Senate election-a new book says he planned his White House bid the day he came to Washington.

"The plan," writes Chicago Tribune author David Mendell, was meant to put Obama in the best position if he wanted to run in 2008. It's obviously worked, though aides say we're reading too much into Mendell's well-researched report on "the plan."

By Paul Bedard