"After launching his campaign with a burst of excitement, the first-term Illinois senator is mired more than 20 points behind Clinton in national polls and trails by smaller margins in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire barely two months before the first contests.

While that is plenty of time to turn around the race, Obama's promise of a new style of consensus-building politics has raised questions about how hard-nosed he will be, or can afford to be, in confronting Clinton."