I was surprised to see that Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) is already running text ads (PDF) urging a presidential run by Barack Obama:

Obama for President
Sign Dick Durbin’s
petition urging Barack
Obama to run for
President
www.DickDurbin.com

It’s customary to back your home-state colleague, but Durbin is being a team player to back Obama this early. Remember, Obama is the junior senator from his state. A recent comparison comes from Ted Kennedy, who offered strained endorsements of his junior colleague John Kerry in 2004 (he and Kerry, and their staffs, have a legendary rivalry). It’s hard to imagine Kennedy’s staff spending money promoting Kerry before he declared in 2003, and there’s no way they’re doing so now.