Oprah Winfrey Presents: Barack Obama

But it's not just the endorsement, it's the momentum that comes with it.

Caroline Tolbert, a political science professor at the University of Iowa, said in Iowa "having a celebrity endorser may or may not make much of a difference because the caucuses are fought on the ground."

There is still an Oprah factor. Mark Sawyer, the director of UCLA's Center for Race, Ethnicity and Politics, believes a spot on Winfrey's daytime couch played a role in the current president's 2000 victory and Arnold Schwarzenegger's California gubernatorial win in 2003.

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"Both of those candidates had real difficulty on policy issues and had issues with women voters," Sawyer said. The "'are-you-a-nice-guy-to-talk-to' aspect of Oprah" made both Bush and Schwarzenegger more approachable candidates, said Sawyer.

Race and the Race

Viewer comfort is key when considering Winfrey's No. 1 daytime talk show ratings and status in American pop culture. It lends to the notion that she has, perhaps, transcended race to the 50-some million viewers she amasses every week. Could her presence on the trail help Obama do the same?

Waldo Johnson, director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago, said Obama doesn't need Winfrey for that; he's already done it on his own, particularly for people who "buy into the idea of a colorblind society."

With white voters, Sawyer adds, Obama has been effective at taking advantage of their openness to the "possibility of racial optimism."

"It's been an amazing way to connect," Sawyer says. He says Obama's message to them has been one that reinforces the idea that "if you're so optimistic about race relations and if we're moving in to this post-race America then you should entertain me as an effective candidate."

"Whether you are talking about a media mogul or a politician, their messages are such that they tend to address a fairly broad, aggressive kind of audience and don't speak in what we might call racialized terms or perspectives," Johnson said.

Winfrey is not one to use her "bully pulpit to articulate" matters of race, Johnson pointed out, often framing matters of race with a larger message of social justice.

"To some degree the same can be said for Obama," Johnson said, though it's "not to say that Obama hasn't been front and center on racial issues. They simply haven't been contained to that as other [African-Americans] who have sought the presidency."

Baum said Winfrey is not unlike former Secretary of State Colin Powell in that both are "not tied to race or ethnicity" but rather are products of "what you do, how you present yourself, and what issues you focus on."