Senator Michelle Obama?

By Richard K. Barry

They poll everything these days, some of it actually useful. Public Policy Polling has decided to give Michelle Obama's post-First Lady career a little boost by asking the good voters of Illinois what they might think of a Senate run for Mrs. Obama should she be so inclined.

As it turns out, to perhaps no one's surprise, she does okay:

If Michelle Obama decided she wanted to follow the Hillary Clinton route once her husband leaves office in 2016 and go to the Senate, she'd have the upper hand on Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL). She leads him 51/40 in a hypothetical head to head. Kirk's approval numbers are ok with 34% of voters approving of him to 19% who disapprove. But those numbers are no match for the first lady, who's seen positively by 60% of voters to 33% with a negative one.

She's a very accomplished woman with some rather massive name recognition. Why not?