David Axelrod could join Barack Obama in White House

David Axelrod the political consultant who has masterminded Barack Obama's presidential campaign strategy, looks set to take a senior job in the Obama White House, should his man win the election next week. Axelrod (pictured with Obama) won't talk about it - and Obama aides don't discuss likely personnel in an Obama administration for fear of jinxing their chances – but many political observers believe he will jump at the chance.

Axelrod, 53, known to friends and colleagues as 'Ax', claims he has been obsessed by politics since he was smitten by John F Kennedy as a five-year-old. By 13, he was on the campaign trail, selling Robert Kennedy election badges. He followed his mother into newspapers and quit in 1984 to become a political consultant. He has made a lucrative career based in Chicago, specialising in helping black politicians appeal to white electorates.

But while previous clients were just that – clients – Obama is a true friend. As the New York Times reported recently, his personal investment in Obama's success is "obvious in the distress marked on his face whenever the candidate comes under attack".

Obama himself has said of Axelrod: "Although he is as tough as they come, he's actually not a mercenary. He actually believes in what we're doing." The two men phone each other at all times of day and night. "When the phone rings at 11, I have a pretty good sense of who it's going to be," says Axelrod. "He does a lot of thinking and working late at night." Axelrod knows who's calling: the ringtone plays Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours by Stevie Wonder. At the other, end, Obama's phone is set to vibrate.

The two men were first introduced 16 years ago by Bettylu Saltzman, a Democratic activist in Chicago. She spotted Obama when he was leading a voter-registration drive for the 1992 election and, impressed, started telling friends he would be the first black president.

She urged Axelrod, by then the city's best-known political strategist, to take time to meet the young lawyer. "They are sort of a yin-and-yang personality," she says. "David can be so much more volatile than Barack."

One man who believes Axelrod will go to the White House is James Carville, who was Clinton's political guru in 1992 but never joined the administration because he wanted to continue earning good money as a consultant. "The only people that go into government are either very young or very rich," says Carville, pointing out that thanks to his consultancy firm, Axelrod can afford to take time out for a spell in the White House. "I think he'll do it," says Carville. "Obama trusts him, and he cares about policy."