NBC Wonders: FLOTUS For Senate?

NBC Chicago ponders:

FLOTUS for Senate? It wasn't that long ago that such a slogan would seem absurd, but political wags are beginning to wonder whether Michelle Obama is mulling a run for Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk's seat in 2016. A Thursday column in Reuters suggests that Obama would be the only candidate with a large enough profile to unseat the Republican. It's not the first time Obama has been mentioned as a potential senatorial candidate, but that speculation has always focused beyond 2016. And the First Lady herself has never publicly indicated any interest in seeking political office. There's also that 2012 Public Polling Policy survey showing the first lady picking up 51 percent of the vote against Kirk's 40 percent if they were to run. Your move, FLOTUS.

From the Reuters article:

First Lady Michelle Obama is everywhere. She’s traveling to China. She’s raising money for Democrats. She’s issuing plaintive tweets seeking the rescue of the kidnapped Nigerian girls. She’s wading uncharacteristically deep into the Washington political mud pit to defend her school lunch program against Republicans, assailing them last Tuesday for opting to “play politics with our kids’ health.” She struck a similar tone in a New York Times op-ed two days later, accusing Republicans of trying to “override science” and suggesting they join parents and “put our children’s interests first.” So what’s with the bolder profile? Sure, Obama cares strongly about the things she is doing. That she does care in fact begs another question: Is caring all that’s going on here? Does she have political ambitions that would allow her to pursue an agenda while working to cement her husband’s legacy?

RELATED: Last year Kirk became one of three sitting GOP senators to endorse same-sex marriage.