Interestingly, this was the previous prognostication on the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize:

Wanted – a peace maker or rights activist engaged in a current conflict whose influence would benefit greatly from winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

That is who Norway’s Nobel Committee will choose for 2009 Peace Prize laureate if, as experts expect, it returns closer to Alfred Nobel‘s notion of peace. Past prizes went to climate campaigners, life-long diplomats and grass-roots economists.

Top contenders for the $1.4 million prize include Colombian peace broker Piedad Cordoba, Afghan rights activist Sima Samar and Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

French-Colombian activist and ex-hostage Ingrid Betancourt, Jordanian interfaith dialogue advocate Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad and U.S. and French presidents Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy are also in the running, although the field remains wide open.

To my eternal shame, I was unaware that Obama had been officially declared to be a runner. However, the odds offered against him were 7-to-1:

Maltese-based bookmaker Betsafe lists Betancourt at 5-to-1, and Tsvangirai at 6-to-1. Austrialian (sic; and this is a Reuters’ story from Wednesday afternoon; shame on them) Centrebet has Cordoba and Samar at 6-to-1 and both Obama and Tsvangirai at 7-to-1.