With the election a scant 19 months away, candidates from both parties are trying to win over prospective voters in a variety of ways. However, judging by the amount of time spent on this issue, the most pressing issue of the upcoming election is religion. Candidates from both sides are trying to prove their religious muster to the American people. For the Democrats, Hillary Clinton has hired an Evangelical Christian as a campaign aide, Barack Obama has added an aide who has experience with religious outreach and John Edwards has framed "poverty relief as a moral issue that's helping to drive his campaign."

On the Republican side, the biggest issue of the 2008 race is whether Mitt Romney can be elected, despite his religious affiliation (he's Mormon, for those of you who have been living under a rock).

The Barack Obamarlboro man

But if you, like me, had the linguistic gold of "Obamarama" stolen before you could get a copyright, you would be taking stabs in the dark too.

I know our senator gets a lot of press. In fact, embarrassingly, I had to Google "Illinois Senate" in order to recall Dick Durbin is the other guy in Washington for Illinois. Sorry, Derby.

However, there is one fluff story that has gained particular attention in the past weeks that seems to have the nation absolutely in awe of its relevance.

Barack Obama smokes cigarettes.

What a stunning revelation of the pinnacle of human weakness. The junior senator from Illinois actually is addicted to nicotine. Turn on the cameras and sharpen your investigative journalism skills mass media.

Find out what type of cigarettes he smokes, giving that particular corporation the first political poster boy for "Camel" or "Winston." Snap pictures of him, grab video.

Obama fan's harsh words have Democrats snarling

A shouting match between supporters of Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama nearly drowned out an issues forum here Wednesday with most of the party's White House hopefuls.The dispute centered on harsh comments that DreamWorks movie studio founder David Geffen, an Obama supporter, made about Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, and it worried the Democratic candidates participating in the first forum for the party's 2008 presidential nomination.One of them, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, urged all of his foes to sign a pledge to not engage in negative campaigning. "If we're going to win, we're going to have to be positive," he said.Clinton, during her appearance at the forum, refused to set aside the controversy. "I want to run a very positive campaign, and I sure don't want Democrats or supporters of Democrats to be engaging in the politics of personal destruction," the New York senator said.She also came to the defense of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, saying, "I believe Bill Clinton was a good president, and I'm very proud of the record of his two terms."'Polarizing figure'Clinton's comments came in response to questions from ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who moderated the forum, about Geffen's comments, which appeared in a Maureen Dowd column in The New York Times on Wednesday."Not since the Vietnam War has there been this level of disappointment in the behavior of America throughout the world, and I don't think another incredibly polarizing figure, no matter how smart she is and no matter how ambitious she is -- and God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton? -- can bring the country together," said Geffen, a former friend of the Clintons.He added: "Obama is inspirational, and he's not from the Bush royal family or the Clinton royal family."Obama, who attended a star-studded $1.3 million fundraiser in Beverly Hills hosted by Geffen and other Hollywood figures Tuesday, was the only Democratic presidential candidate who did not attend Wednesday's event.

Barack Obama Visits Southern Nevada

Illinois Senator and presidential hopeful Barack Obama brought his campaign to the Silver State.

Obama has stated he would like to pull U.S. Troops out of Iraq by March of 2008. Other key points in Obama's speech included global warming, better education, and stopping rising health costs.

Flirting with Obama risks Clinton's wrath / The message to donors: Don't play the field

As she watched a stream of A-list Hollywood actors and movie moguls crowd into the elegant ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel to mingle with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama this week, powerhouse blogger and author Arianna Huffington noted that many in the room were uneasy about being there.

"It's like being married, and suddenly you fall in love. You're a good person, and a loyal person ... you have a history with the Clintons,'' she said. "And you feel like you're cheating.''

If some Democrats have cheating on their minds, it coincides with the rise of Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, who has attracted big crowds and evidenced that elusive quality of political charisma, "something you cannot manufacture,'' Huffington said. "It is priceless -- and we haven't seen it for a long time.''

And that has posed trouble for the old love: Hillary Rodham Clinton, the New York senator, front-runner for the Democratic nomination in 2008 and the wife of former President Bill Clinton.