the Chicago 'message and media' company AKP&D.

Axelrod (above, whispering to a reporter) is the overall strategist. But it is Hildebrand who is poised to inherit the mantle of the political whizzes who actually win elections: men like Lee Atwater who helped George Bush the elder with his

legendary 'negative' of Willy Horton the rapist paroled only to murder; James Carville for Bill Clinton with the 'focus group' constantly speaking in his head; and, most recently, Karl Rove, the 'wedge issue' plotter who gave America the 'Dubya' George Bush disaster.

Hildebrand has his own formula. "You can do it," he says, "below the radar."

He earned his spurs winning Iowa for Al Gore in 2000, and joined Obama as the 'Iowa expert'. This was key. "If