Harry Potter and the Presidential Candidate

Turns out that Barack Obama is a Harry Potter fan! Or, at least his oldest daughter is.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=GVJVKSNRNMP45QFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/07/19/wobama119.xml

Barack Obama under the Harry Potter spell

By Julian Kossoff and agencies
Last Updated: 1:48am BST 23/07/2007

The reach of Harry Potter's famous wand now extends all the way to the realm of US presidential politics with the revelation that Democratic hopeful, Barack Obama, is muggle-mad.

His wife, Michelle Obama, has outed him as the original "Harry Potter parent," who has read all six books about the boy wizard's adventures with his older daughter.

"The challenge will be scheduling Harry Potter reading time in between Iowa and New Hampshire and fundraising, but I guarantee you they will figure out a way to do it," Mrs Obama said. "Harry Potter is huge in our house."

Indeed, if Mr Obama does make it to the White House it bodes well for the 'special relationship' between the UK and USA - Prime Minister Gordon Brown is also a fan.