Is it true that everything Oprah touches turns to gold? Can the same be said of her endorsement of Senator Barack Obama? Eh. Experts aren’t so sure she’ll have the magic touch when it comes to politics.

Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, said, “People say that she won’t be able to snap her fingers and have Iowans jump. She will help furnish him with an audience of people attracted to her, for him to make his own pitch. I think she can sell his books a lot easier than she can sell his candidacy.”

Oprah will hit the road with Barack Obama, making appearances in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Columbia, South Carolina, and Manchester, New Hampshire this weekend.