Reading the stories on Tom Vilsack's announcment that he'll run for President in 2008, you can almost hear boxing announcer Michael Buffer in the background belting out his signature, "Let's Get Ready to Ruuummmble!!!!"

Mr. Vilsack was kind enough to wait an entire 48 hours before launching his presidential juggernaut, which at this point in the race has him running unimpressively in 4th place in his home state behind John Edwards and Hillary Clinton.

The good news for Vilsack is that John Kerry was in third place in that poll, and unless Iowans are keen on botched jokes and insults we can only hope they'll have the good sense to not subject the country to another drawn out run by the Jr. Senator from Massachusetts - assuming he has the bad sense to run in the first place.

Be that as it may, the Des Moines Register responded to the announcement as any hometown paper would by promptly producing a Vilsack for President boomlet, complete with a front page news story, a fairly flattering editorial, and a column by David Yepsen applauding the Governor's decision to go off tilting at windmills.

It's not quite the same press Barack Obama would get - heck it's not even as good as the press Obama gets right now for saying he'll "think" about running. But, to paraphrase a now former Defense Secretary, you go to Election 2008 hysteria with the candidate you have, and right now it's Vilsack.

Somebody cue Michael Buffer.