Maybe because he has woken up a part of the electorate, the young and black voters, who, in the past, did not see much point in voting for what could be considered to be establishment figures.

Maybe because he is articulate and intelligent, but with enough humanity to come across being closer to being 'one of us' than any of the usual suspects.

Maybe because we have got rid of Bush and have not put a Bush clone in his place.

Maybe because this man talks about helping the middle classes directly, rather than spouting on about trickle down policies that certainly don't seem to have worked up to now.