Axelrod told the story of a long-ago phone call from the evening's hostess, Democratic donor Bettylu Saltzman, who said she'd just met young Obama and thought that he could be president someday. Axelrod turned and smiled at Giannoulias. Her blessing, the adviser said, was a "good omen."
Giannoulias will take any good omens he can get. He is an amiable but not quite formidable candidate who has struggled to inspire even some loyal Democrats. His principal professional experience before winning election as treasurer in 2006 with Obama's support was four years as a senior loan officer at his family's Broadway Bank -- seized in April by federal regulators when piles of loans went bad. ".........
May 2010: Alexi G’s Basketball Diaries "..........Nobody would mistake Obama for an idealist when it comes to winning races, but on the subject of Giannoulias, it seems the President shares a genuine friendship with the man 15 years his junior. The two played their first pickup basketball game in 1994, when Obama was a lecturer at the University of Chicago’s law school and Giannoulias was a freshman in its college."..............