Barack Obama

In 2006, he won a Grammy, his book is one the New Times bestseller list, he went on Oprah and he went to Africa where he was greeted like royality restored from exile. But As good, as 2006, has been for Barack Obama, 2007 is shaping up to be pretty fabulous as well.

A trip to New Hampshire in December, set off a frenzy about Obama's intentions regarding a presidential campaign. The junior senator from Illinois claims that he hasn't not yet decided whether he will run for president, but that he was still "running things through the traps" before deciding. "This is an office you can't run for just on the basis of ambition," Obama told reporters at a news conference between packed events. "You have to feel deep in your gut that you have a vision for the country that is sufficiently important that it needs to be out there."

Obama said he thinks the excitement reflects voters' desire for a new, positive direction in politics that is not about him as an individual. But the New Hapmshire trip did nothing to dampen speculation about what would be the first serious, viable campaigm for the presidency by an African American. He drew 1,500 Democrats to a the fundraiser and several hundred more at a book signing in Portsmouth. Organizers of both events had to turn away many others who wanted to get in. The media contingent was so large it crowded into a Portsmouth coffee shop with the senator and knocked into tables and chairs as he tried to shake hands with the customers.

And for that alone, and the hope it would bring, Obama is among Black Voices, Best of 2006.

The Associated Press contributed information to this story.