When Scout Tufankjian’s photo-agency sent her to New Hampshire in the dead of December, 2006, to cover a post–mid-term election Democratic “victory rally,” this hard-bitten photo-journalist fresh from covering the horrors in the Gaza Strip was prepared for a lame photo-op.

After all, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh was there, drawing a small crowd of … mildly enthusiastic party regulars.

And then Barack Obama showed up — and 600 rabid fans went crazy.

“Bayh got three people,” she said. “So I knew something was up with this Obama guy. People lost their minds when he came on stage and spoke.”

The excitement continued at the next stop, a smaller gathering at a bookstore-coffeeshop.

“One person asked him to sign her copy of ‘Lady Chatterly’s Lover,’ and they got into a long talk about the book. Then the next person asked him about philosophy and suddenly they were talking about Kant and Heidegger. I thought, ‘Wow, this guy is smart.”

¶ 6:59 PM