Why could there be an Obama blowout? One reason is the Obamacons, conservatives who support Mr. Obama. Some, such as columnist Andrew Sullivan, are attracted by Mr. Obama's message of hope and his potential ability to reshape America's image before the world.

There have been a few celebrated cases of conservatives endorsing Obama, like the blogger Andrew Sullivan and the legal scholar Douglas Kmiec. But you probably have not have heard of many of the Obamacons—and neither has the Obama campaign. When I checked with it to ask for a list of prominent conservative supporters, the campaign seemed genuinely unaware that such supporters even existed. But those of us on the right who pay attention to think tanks, blogs, and little magazines have watched Obama compile a coterie drawn from the movement's most stalwart and impressive thinkers. It's a group that will no doubt grow even larger in the coming months.

The largest group of Obamacons hail from the libertarian wing of the movement. And it's not just Andrew Sullivan. Milton and Rose Friedman's son, David, is signed up with the cause on the grounds that he sees Obama as the better vessel for his father's cause.

On the Tory side, the energy and excitement being generated by the Democratic race may even put fresh strains on relations between British Tories and US Republicans, which have traditionally been sister parties.

Esther McVey, the party's candidate for Wirral West, can claim to have met the black Democratic presidential candidate. A cheerleader for the new "Obamacons", she has written breathlessly of a lunch with the Senator last May and has posted a picture of them together on her blog.