They say it's better to be lucky than good. And after eight straight lopsided primary losses, Hillary Clinton is about to start making that point in earnest about Barack Obama. The four-year U.S. Senator isn't merely inexperienced, her campaign will no doubt argue, but he's led a charmed political life not of his own making. Without the likes of Jeri Ryan and Alan Keyes, Obama's short but happy legislative career might have been shorter still.
Barrack Obama's meteoric rise hasn't been without its speed bumps. Elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996, Obama quickly - and unsuccessfully - challenged four-term incumbent Congressman Bobby Rush in 2000. But after establishing his bona fides in the Illinois legislature, Obama four years later ran for the open U.S. Senate being vacated by the retiring Republican Peter Fitzgerald.
Which is when fate first intervened on Obama's behalf.
In his 2004 bid for the Senate, Obama faced Republican Jack Ryan. An impressive candidate in his own right, Ryan too had a Harvard resume including law and business degrees. Like Obama, he could claim to be a social activist, having taught at an inner city school after a lucrative tenure at Goldman Sachs.
As chance would have it, Ryan was going through an ugly and public divorce from his wife, the actress Jeri Ryan of Star Trek Voyager and Boston Public fame. In June 2004, court documents in the divorce case included Mrs. Ryan's allegations that her husband "took her to sex clubs and asked her to engage in sexual activity in front of other patrons." Just days later, Jack Ryan dropped out of the Illinois Senate race.
Which is when Fortuna again smiled on Barack Obama, this time in the form of the crusading eccentric, Alan Keyes.
The twice-failed GOP presidential candidate moved from Maryland to Illinois to take on Obama. He brought his unique blend of religious fervor and flair for the bizarre with him. In a campaign in which he branded gay Americans (including Dick Cheney's daughter) "selfish hedonists," Keyes claimed Jesus Christ would not have supported Obama:

"Christ would not vote for Barack Obama because Barack Obama has voted to behave in a way that it is inconceivable for Christ to have behaved."

It's not hard to see why Obama trounced Keyes that November by 70% to 27%.
Barack Obama may be lucky, but he's also good. Very, very good. Unlike George W. Bush, whose family connections rescued the failed businessman and turned him into the second coming of Chauncey Gardner, Barack Obama has excelled at every turn.
But with her campaign on the ropes, Hillary Clinton is going to have to do something to blunt the Obama steamroller or risk facing her own personal Alamo in Texas on March 4th. So the gloves will come off regarding the Illinois Senator just four years out of the state legislature in Springfield. Obama, the Clinton camp will argue, is inexperienced, green, naive and just plain lucky. And his luck, they'll claim, will run out when he is mauled by the Republican smear machine in November.