If you listen closely to the Illinois political scene, you can almost hear it. Shhh … quiet. There it is. It’s called Barack Obama fever.

Yes, even eight months after the senator’s landslide victory over Republican candidate Alan Keyes, it seems as if everywhere Obama goes, following him are smiles, handshakes, pats on the back, pictures, autographs and lastly, the P-question.

“Senator Obama, do you have plans to run for president in 2008 or 2012?”

Almost instinctively, Obama plays a card along the lines claiming he is only 99th in Senate seniority and for the first year will be sharpening pencils and scrubbing the Senate floor. These are Obama’s attempts at downplaying not only his initial influence in the Senate, but also people’s expectations of him in that capacity.

All of the attention is well-deserved, but there need to be concrete reasons why someone merits such hopes and dreams.

Many people of all ages, hues and backgrounds stand in awe as Obama passes. While working downtown as an intern, I witnessed someone almost get into a car wreck shouting out a car window and trying to get the senator’s attention as he was walking near the Federal Reserve building.

“He has the gift, the look, the brains and the potential (the become president),” said Dorothy Heights, a fifth grade school teacher.

Yet when asked about his political involvements since Nov. 2, my poor interviewee fell silent. So did the next person, as well as the next Obama fan.

Obama’s first piece of legislation in the Senate focused on raising the federal Pell Grant limit from $4,050 to $5,100 per person. Obama is working on introducing the bill to the Senate for a vote.

In early July, Obama exercised his role as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and traveled to the United Nations to meet with Sudan’s ambassador to the U.N., Elfatih Mohamed Erwa.

The meeting focused on the genocide occurring in Darfur, Sudan. Sen. Obama commented during a press conference after the meeting that he hopes to “raise American awareness about the Darfur situation.”

Sen. Obama, along with Illinois Senior Sen. Dick Durbin, has worked hard in Washington to bring federal money to Illinois for infrastructure improvements.

Obama was recently in Chicago as President George Bush signed the Transportation Bill that will channel millions of dollars to Illinois road projects like the Wacker Drive redevelopment plan.

This past week, Sen. Obama concluded a three-day road trip throughout Illinois conducting town-hall meetings where local residents could air concerns to the man whom they sent to Washington to represent them.

Already, Sen. Obama has conducted 29 meetings across the state.

And at these town-hall meetings, attendance usually is around the 450 mark.

I must admit though, the bug of Obama’s infection has caught up to me.

I met him, smiled, felt all warm and fuzzy (he is cute), got a hug, an autograph and a picture like every other fan.

But I also went to one of his town-hall meetings in late June, and wasn’t a bit surprised at the conversation. He’s a politician, not a Ba-rock star, as many have dubbed him.

He talked about Washington and Illinois politics, not his shoe size or favorite brand of pop.

During a question-and-answer session in the town meeting, Obama fielded questions intelligently on such topics as Social Security to education, health care, the war in Iraq and hip-hop music.

Many have predicted with absolute certainty Obama will run for the White House seat in 2020. Perform a quick search on Google, and you’ll see the presidental vision for Senator Obama is already equipped with T-shirts, pens and coffee mugs.

But I suppose all the frenzy is in good spirit. As long as we know of Obama’s political substance, not overblown hype, before ordering the 20/20 vision campaign glasses.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.