Aiming High

HITTING WITH THEIR BEST SHOTS

With half the American population burying their heads under the covers at the prospect of Four More Years, it's nice to know that some are still fighting the good fight. In Senator Barack Obama, Annie Leibovitz and company found a man with off-the-charts charisma and an aura of limitless potential to change the world—which, for a woman who has photographed seven presidents, is no small thing. Pint-size packages of Obama positivity, his daughters eagerly doled out hugs for their dad's campaign workers and let loose to Outkast's "Hey Ya!" as Leibovitz snapped away. Then it was on to Jon Stewart for Leibovitz, who, taking a cue from the Daily Show host's running joke that his program could be written by monkeys, brought along Ricky, a chimp with an entourage the size of Puffy's. Meanwhile, Art Streiber and the crew shooting the environmentalists were privy to a sight rarely associated with tree huggers: power schmoozing. Things were significantly more somber with Jonas Karlsson and the four 9/11 widows who are called "the Jersey girls," at Liberty State Park, in Jersey City, overlooking downtown Manhattan. Showing her husband's wedding ring to contributing photo producer Ron Beinner, Kristen Breitweiser remarked that this was all that had been left of him. Bitter reality gave way to pure fantasy at the 3,000-acre Herefordshire family estate of the Honorable Justin Portman, the husband of Russian model Natalia Vodianova, photographed by Patrick Demarchelier. "It was a fairy tale," says Beinner.

EVGENIA PERETZ

BEHIND THE SCENES