* The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz takes a look at the Chicago media’s coverage of the Rezko-Obama matter and concludes:

This seems like a minor-league issue. But as Bill Clinton learned about his money-losing Arkansas land deal, when you run for president, everything in your past gets magnified.

* A Washington Times editorial today takes a look at Obama’s pre US Senate record and concludes:

In short, Mr. Obama’s record as an Illinois state senator was down-the-line liberal. For someone representing a liberal district in Chicago, that’s not very surprising. What is surprising is how Mr. Obama’s liberal label has been effectively wiped clean since he entered the U.S. Senate.

* CNN’s Jeanne Moos asks people on the street about Barack Hussein Obama’s name:

* The Draft Obama organization is reportedly planning to run this TV ad in New Hampshire.

* Joe Novak jabs again at Obama’s wife, Michelle, for her position on a corporate board of directors involved in massive layoffs.

Hispanic union workers like Santiago Vasquez lose jobs because Michelle Obama wants to improve efficiency? She defends layoffs telling Chicago Crains Business that her firm “hopes to expand and hire more workers, many minorities, once it boosts its efficiency.”

* New York Daily News columnist/blogger notes that Obama has picked up the support of a bigtime money guy.

Lou Susman, John Kerry’s national finance chairman in 2004 and, reportedly, a supporter of Tom Vilsack in 2008, told me yesterday that if Barack Obama runs for president, he’ll support Obama.

Susman’s comment is another mark of the entree Obama has to the very top tier of Democratic moneymen, one I wrote about in this week’s column.

* Here’s an excerpt from his column:

There were only about a dozen people in George Soros’ midtown conference room to meet Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who is getting used to crowds of thousands at bookstore readings and public speeches.

But the men meeting Obama last Monday still matter more in Democratic presidential politics than your average bookstore crowd. They were some of New York’s elite political donors, including John Kerry’s top New York fund-raiser from 2004, Hassan Nemazee, and the former chief of staff at Bill Clinton’s Treasury Department, Michael Froman.

Also there were financiers Blair Effron, Mark Gallogly and Orin Kramer, each of whom donates tens of thousands of dollars to Democrats and can raise tens of thousands more from friends. (Soros himself had met alone with Obama earlier in the day; that evening, he was reading from his own new book at a Barnes & Noble store.)

When Obama - considered Hillary Clinton’s most serious threat - meets with the biggest of the big-money donors, it sends a clear message.

* Speaking of money, he’s also picking up a lot of small donations.

A political action committee that Obama has formed already has taken in more than $1 million this year in the kind of low-dollar donations that reflect excitement among ordinary voters. More than $165,000 flowed in during a six-week period this fall that coincided with the Democratic senator’s highly publicized book tour, according to federal disclosure documents.

* Alan Greenblatt of Governing Magazine’s blog notices some pushback [eg: this sort of stuff] from the DC punditry about Obama and offers this analysis:

Finally, I think the resistance to Obama is rooted in this — he’s popular with the public way before a newcomer to the national scene should be. By which I mean that only political reporters and the people who work the system for a living are supposed to be paying attention and making their judgments.

“The Gang of 500,” as ABC’s newsletter The Note calls the political insider class, is supposed to weigh and pass judgment on candidates long before voters even in Iowa or New Hampshire have started paying serious attention. At this point, the only stories are supposed to be about which candidate is hiring which adviser, and what that signals about what the smart money thinks about his (or now her) chances.

Obama circumvents all that. He’s a star winning the hearts and minds of the people regardless of whatever skepticism the chattering class in Washington may harbor about him. No wonder that class is starting to hate him.

* George Will, of all people, says: “Run Now, Obama”

* I think Rush Limbaugh played this snippet that “Libertarian Reason” blog wrote about today.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote a piece last week in which she teased 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama about his big ears. Well it seems he can’t quite handle that. Microphones picked up a conversation he had with Dowd after a speech of his in New Hampshire last Sunday:

“You talked about my ears, and I just want to put you on notice: I’m very sensitive about - what I told them was - I was teased relentlessly when I was a kid about my big ears.” Dowd replies comradely, “Oh, we’re just trying to toughen you up!” The rest of the conversation is unclear.

He’s “sensitive” about his ears? The cartoonists and blogggers are gonna have a field day with this one. Perhaps he could adjust his hair style or consider ear reduction surgery. And, just to be clear, I’m joking here, as I believe Obama was.

* Old poll conducted in Iowa for special interest group passed off as new development.