Matt Santos for President?

Andrew thinks that Obama 'has a little of the Matthew Santos about him'. There is something very West Wing about his candidacy, with Hillary currently playing a similar role to Vice President Russell, the safe, experienced presumptive nominee to Obama's Santos-like outsider. For first Latino candidate read first African-American candidate. 

If the real-life campaign were to follow the fictional script, then Barack's campaign would begin to gather unstoppable momentum about now, and Clinton's supporters in the Democratic Party would start to jump ship and turn to the young, charismatic candidate who represents a new kind of politics. 

The November election would then see Obama facing a Republican candidate who resembled Arnie Vinick, the character played by Alan Alda in the series - decent, socially liberal, mistrusted by the conservative 'base'. Hang on - isn't that John McCain?

Cynics have often dismissed The West Wing as political escapism for liberals. But maybe life will now begin to imitate art - who knows?

In the meantime, whatever you think of Obama's policies, you have to admit his campaign has produced some stunning, succinct TV ads. Here's one from a couple of weeks back that neatly countered the negative attacks of the Clinton team:

And here's the new ad featuring Caroline Kennedy: