The Note: The Unfinished Work

— -- WASHINGTON, Feb. 9

On Saturday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) declares his presidential bid at the Historic Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois at 11:00 am ET.

Obama then travels to Cedar Rapids, IA for a 5:00 pm ET town hall meeting. He holds an 8:30 pm ET meet-and-greet in Waterloo, IA.

On Sunday, Sen. Obama continues stumping in the Hawkeye State, holding a 1:00 pm ET rally at Iowa State University in Ames, IA.

The Illinois lawmaker returns to Chicago for a 6:30 pm ET rally at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion.

Time shifting, he caps off his announcement weekend with a Sunday appearance on CBS' "60 Minutes."

So many questions will be answered in the next 50 hours. Here are just some of them:

Will Sen. Barack Obama begin to give a stump speech, a la Bush 1999 (but not Clinton 2007) that he will deliver relentlessly the rest of the year and that allows America to get to know his heart (and his head)?

Will the Obama campaign's oft-stated commitment to run a "different kind of campaign," lead it to fumble press or candidate logistics to an extent that reporters begin to ask -- in print/on the air, or, at least, among themselves -- "if he can't run an announcement tour, how can he run the country??!!??"?

Will the Springfield kickoff event get road-blocked cable coverage?

Will the candidate get a "pop quiz" question from a voter that he flubs? (Note to Senator Obama: A 1/2 gallon of Tropicana Pure Tropics Orange Strawberry Banana Juice costs about $2.59. LINK)

Will the crowd sizes be so overwhelmingly large that the Gang of 500 begins to believe that something Special is happening?

Will David Axelrod be mobbed by the media whenever he appears on the trail?

Will web contributions to the campaign spike dramatically in way that makes the Gang of 500 believe that something Special is happening?

Will Lynn Sweet's all day, every day TV appearances lead to a dedicated SweetTV cable channel (with many a confused late night viewer tuning in based on the name alone)?

Will the campaign begin to let America fall in love with Michelle Obama this weekend, or will they wait? (Beyond the "60 Minutes" turn…)

Will Robert Gibbs wear sunglasses, even inside?

Will the "60 Minutes" piece be as hard-hitting as most Obama coverage (and most "60 Minutes" profiles of attractive Democrats), or, uhm, more so?

Will the Clinton campaign watch all this and say, "If we aren't going to use all this opposition research we are collecting, why are we collecting it?"?

Will the Republican National Committee put out press releases, based on their own extensive opposition research, contrasting Obama's 2007 centrist rhetoric with his votes-n-quotes from his Illinois days -- or will they continue their audacious hope that Obama is the only force that can stop Hillary Clinton from winning the nomination early and easy? (See below for a clue….)

Will all the new, but yet-to-be-announced Senate hires look at the fun on the trail and say to themselves, "Do I really want to sit around the Hart Building?"?

Will the phystical crush of the weekend make the campaign think it needs to either budget hundreds of thousands of dollars for private security, or make an extraordinary early request for Secret Service protection?

Will the candidate who speaks of the need to move beyond the cynicism seemingly inherit in modern day campaigning -- you know, one comprised of stump speeches, bumper stickers, slogans, soundbites, logos, and a legion of flaks and consultants -- have all that on display tomorrow?

Will comparisons to Lincoln be made explicit?

Will there be any flashes of (understandable) Obama nervousness or (the rumored) Obama temper?

While we wait for the answers, here are some very must-reads:

1. The Washington Times on simmering conservative unhappiness with the Republican Big Three of McCain, Romney, and Giuliani. LINK

2. The New Hampshire Union Leader on the front-loaded calendar and New Hampshire's determination to be first first first. LINK

3. The Chicago Tribune on the competition over bundlers among the Democratic Big Three of Clinton, Obama, and Edwards. LINK

4. The Washington Post on the White House's lame duckery as it relates to 2008. LINK

Befitting the first White House in 80 years without someone running for president, President Bush has no public events today.

But the '08ers are out in force today and this weekend, competing for a slice of attention.

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) speaks at Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion's State of the Borough address at 9:30 am ET at Hostos Community College in Bronx, NY. Tonight, Sen. Clinton plans to raise some coin at Cipriani at a closed press fundraiser.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) and his wife Ann meet with Anderson area residents at Tucker's Restaurant at 8:30 am ET in Anderson, SC. Romney attends the Alabama GOP Winter Dinner and State Executive Committee Meeting at 7:00 pm ET in Montgomery, AL.

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) delivers 11:30 am ET remarks to the Chamber of Commerce's National Leaders Forum at the Daniel Webster College in Nashua, NH. He will be on WRKO Radio 680 AM/Boston with talk show host Howie Carr at 4:30 pm ET. Then, Huckabee speaks at the Business and Industry Association and the New Hampshire Political Library's new National Leaders Forum in Nashua, NH at 5:00 pm ET. And finally, the former governor attends a 5:00 pm ET reception at the fabled Merimack Restaurant in Manchester, NH.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) is in Michigan today as he begins weekend meetings with Republican activists, donors, and elected officials at the annual Michigan GOP state convention in Grand Rapids, MI.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) is scheduled to deliver a speech to the TD Ameritrade, Inc. at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, CA at 11:00 am ET.

The presidential exploratory committee of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) opens its Michigan campaign headquarters in Grand Rapids at 4:00 pm ET with special guest Michigan Attorney General Michael Cox, who will chair McCain's Michigan campaign.

One day after a tour de force performance at CSIS which convinced Howard Fineman that he better brush up on his Spanish, Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM) is back in Santa Fe, NM today where he honors New Mexico's African American citizens with a proclamation reading.

Former Gov. Tom Vilsack (D-IA) hosts a media conference call at 12:30 pm ET to discuss details of his Iowa organization.

Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-CA) House Oversight and Government Reform Committee holds a 10:00 am ET hearing on allegations of "waste, fraud, and abuse" in pharmaceutical pricing with a focus on its potential effect on federal health programs and the federal taxpayer.

The House GOP's new series of weekly radio addresses gets underway today. House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) taped the first radio address; it will be distributed later this morning.

In the address, Boehner says: "Democrats owe it to the American people to offer a plan of their own, because leaving Iraq in chaos would directly threaten America's safety and security."

The Brookings Institution holds a 1:00 pm ET discussion on President Bush's tax-based insurance proposals with Kate Baicker of the Council of Economic Advisers and Robert Reischauer and others of the Urban Institute.

At 1:30 pm ET, tune into ABC News Now's "Politics Live" to see ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin interview former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe about his new book, "What a Party!" LINK

On Sunday morning, be sure to tune into "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" for an on-the-road interview with former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), who is campaigning for president, and an interview with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), who says he has passed on 2008 so that he can campaign to end the Iraq war.