This Associated Press picture could be interpreted as unexceptional in some ways, yet quite symbolic in others. Here’s Barack Obama addressing an audience at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Virginia last Saturday…

Your standard speech photo… until you look at the background.

Just a few of the possible allusions here …

1. A new candidate emerging out the front in the race?
2. A powerful political force still lurking?
3. The future in focus, the past blurred?
4. Progressive versus sedentary?

We can’t say if any or all were intended, but it’s always interesting to take a longer look at political journalism - especially in a historic race.