As we watch Senator Obama, I find myself wondering how a (quite possibly) successful Mfume for Senator campaign will affect him. I wonder how he will impact the Mfume campaign.

Obama Speaks
The rising-star Democrat on religion, blogs, John McCain and more
By PERRY BACON/WASHINGTON

There's a lot of reasons you could be jealous of Barack Obama: he's a great public speaker, so handsome that after every public event long lines of mostly women rush to get a picture with him, and counts Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and Warren Buffett among his admirers. And he just won a spoken-word Grammy for for the audio version of his memoir, "Dreams from My Father." But here's the killer: He doesn't really gain weight. People who've met with him note he's endlessly snacking on nuts or whatever is at hand, and yet his 6'2'' frame remains as trim as ever. "At one point in the campaign, he said if he doesn't work out, he loses weight,' says Robert Gibbs, Obama's spokesman. "And I was like 'you really shouldn't say that anymore."

When he's not in the gym fighting off weight loss, Obama will be working on a bunch of projects that will make his second year in the Senate even busier than his first. He'll be flying all over the country to campaign for congressional Democrats, writing a book detailing his policy views, and taking a two-week trip to Africa that includes stops in Kenya, where some of his relatives live, and Sudan. He's also hoping to push Democrats toward reaching out to religious voters. Obama will give several speeches on the subject, and has been talking to Rick Warren, the evangelical pastor who wrote the best-selling book "The Purpose Driven Life," which Obama just finished reading. Here are more of the Illinois Senator's thoughts and insights, from a pair of interviews with TIME earlier this month: