A star is born

 

Larry King cornered Rep. Rahm Emanuel on the convention floor Monday night. "Hey Nine," he said in a weird Bushian reference to the fact that Emanuel is missing part of one finger, "I hear this fellow from Illinois is terrific."

Emanuel is from Illinois, but he wasn't the fellow King had in mind. That fellow was Barack Obama, the state senator from Chicago who is running for the U.S. Senate. And his keynote address Tuesday night was, in fact, terrific.

"He knocked it out of the park," Emanuel said Tuesday night as he stood in a swarm of wildly cheering Illinois delegates. "He told the story of his life. And he wrote it himself. No, I know everybody says that, but he really did." Emanuel shares the same media advisor, David Axelrod, so he should know. Obama, 42, crafted the speech himself over the weeks that the legislature was deadlocked over a budget, according to Emanuel. "He's going to be a great senator because he believes in public service and the role of government." (Link)