He's fired up youth with eloquent oratory and a message of change. He has the pearl-wearing wife and two adorable little kids. He's making plans for a huge speech in Berlin.

So ask - or ask not: Is Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama channeling John F. Kennedy?

Republicans practically roll their eyes at the Camelot question - and Obama's not even the official nominee yet.

"If Michelle starts wearing a pillbox hat, or they get a pony named Macaroni - look out," sighs Bill Whalen, Hoover Institution research fellow.

The parlor game of finding comparisons between the young president from Massachusetts and the young senator from Illinois heated up last week.