Vote for Bob.

Bob Geldof nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.
I hate to steal an entire story, but this one's written very well.



Rock stars could mean novel Nobel Peace Prize


Oct 3, 2005 — By Alister Doyle


OSLO (Reuters) - Irish rock stars Bob Geldof and Bono are among the bookmakers' tips to win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, alongside more orthodox candidates like campaigners against nuclear arms or a peace broker for Indonesia.

Experts are divided about whether the secretive five-member committee would dare to broaden the scope of the $1.3 million award in 2005 to honor Geldof or Bono, who have campaigned for years to ease hunger and poverty in Africa.

Last year, the committee won both plaudits and brickbats for awarding the prize for the first time to an environmentalist, Kenya's Wangari Maathai, for leading a campaign to plant millions of trees across Africa.

After that mixed reception, guardians of what many view as the world's highest accolade may be reluctant to be innovative a second time. A total of 199 candidates have been nominated for the 2005 award, which can be split up to three ways.

"If the prize branches out to virtually anything that is trendy, it stands to lose the intent that (Swedish founder) Alfred Nobel had — to prevent war," said Janne Haaland Matlary, a professor of political science at Oslo University.

"I think there are two acute problems in the world — anti-terror work and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," she said.

On the 60th year of the 1945 U.S. nuclear bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she and many experts say an obvious option is to honor efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

Still, Bono and Geldof have risen from 66-1 to be third joint favorites at 7-1 on an Australian bookmakers' ranking in recent days after Stein Toennesson, a leading Norwegian prize commentator, placed them among his favorites.