Oprah Live From Iowa?

During the last presidential election, as Bush and Kerry fought it out in the swing states, Oprah Winfrey was championing Tolstoy. Her Russian literary boosterism made Anna Karenina a bestseller in the summer of 2004.

This election cycle she's got a different author to peddle, the 'Dreams from My Father' writer who also happens to be running for president.

Oprah has already endorsed Sen. Barack Obama but now comes word from the Chicago Sun-Times's Lynn Sweet that Oprah will hit the campaign trail for the junior senator from Illinois.

"First she's coming to Iowa," Obama said at a campaign event yesterday. "New Hampshire will come later. "We're just doing it one state at a time."

A Gallup Poll last month found that Winfrey's endorsement of Obama gave him no appreciable lift among voters.
But she can raise money: a September event for Obama at her California home brought in an expected $3 million, plus star power. The guest list included Forest Whitaker, Sidney Poitier, Chris Rock, Will Smith and Halle Berry, among many others.

Winfrey on the stump for Obama will no doubt revive a question the senator was asked in May: what about an Obama-Winfrey ticket?

"I think Oprah is far more powerful than a vice president," he said then. "I think that would be a demotion for her."

--Rachel Dry