Barack Obama
AGE: 45
OCCUPATION: United States Democratic Senator from Illinois, presidential hopeful for 2008
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 2
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 1
PRO: Could become the first African American President of the United States in 2008. His Lincolnesque ideal of centrist politics has generated mass appeal.
CON: Concerns over his inexperience have placed him behind fellow Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton in recent opinion polling.