Chicago and Rio Are Neck and Neck

If Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey can’t do it, no one can. The International Olympic Committee will announce their pick for the 2016 Summer Games’ host at 11 a.m. EST on Friday, and CNN reports that it’s coming down to Chicago and Rio de Janeiro, which are, according to one insider, “close as hell.” The president will join his wife, Oprah, and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley in Copenhagen on Friday morning for four hours of whirlwind Olympic wooing—as will Brazil’s wildly popular President Lula da Silva, King Juan Carlos of Spain, and Japan’s new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama. Many speculate that Obama’s presence suggests inside knowledge that America will win the right to host the Games—especially because losing the Games after a personal appearance from America’s superstar president would constitute a major loss of face. Obama’s aides are reportedly “cautiously optimistic.”