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And it s as true in politics as it is in sports. in june of 2006 almost as far out from the 2008 presidential elections we now are from 2016, gallup polled a list of hopefuls from the 2008 democratic nomination. then senator barack obama didn t even make it onto that list. that s how far from the radar he was back then but he went on to defeat hillary clinton for the nomination and john mccain for the presidency. the story of barack obama s ascendancy from state senator in illinois to president of the united states in four short years is the quintessential underdog tale. he bet against the odds and he won. he won big. of course just like in the ncaa tournament the underdogs usually don t end up winning the big prize in politics. george mcgovern in 1972, gary hart in 1984, paul tongas in 1982. we remember them because for a brief moment they defied political gravity and captured our imaginations, only to be done in by cold hard reality. ....