Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama. John McCain.

Those were some of the names a well-known political journalist mentioned in a speech Wednesday night in Lawrence as the most formidable potential candidates to win the 2008 presidency. But ABC News political director Mark Halperin’s list didn’t include Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, who this week announced he was forming an exploratory committee for a White House run.

Halperin told a crowd of about 200 people at the Dole Institute of Politics that Brownback has a record of public life and ideas about what he’d like to do – but faces potential challenges with fundraising and becoming known to the public.

“I think he’s got more ideas and a more specific agenda than a lot of the other candidates. I think that’s an advantage,” Halperin said afterward. “I think the challenge he’ll have is to get known and to raise money. His own advisers have said that, and it will be a challenge that’s shared by a lot of people.”

During the speech, he contrasted Brownback with former first lady and Democratic New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who, despite her strengths as a candidate, already is despised by “tens of millions of Americans.”

“Senator Brownback may never be known by tens of millions … no matter what happens,” he said.

Halperin is founder of The Note, ABC’s political blog. After the speech, he signed copies of his new book “The Way to Win,” co-written by John F. Harris. The book analyzes how the Bush and Clinton families have been able to control the presidency for five consecutive terms – and the prospect of that legacy continuing with Hillary Clinton.

“The Republican Party is well aware … that Hillary Clinton could win the White House,” he said, and that it’s going to take a strong candidate to defeat her.

He said he viewed Arizona Send. John McCain as the strongest potential Republican challenger to Clinton, followed by Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who did not seek re-election as governor this year.

He listed North Carolina Democratic Send. John Edwards, who lost on the ticket with John Kerry in 2004, as one of the candidates “certain to run.” Democratic freshman Send. Barack Obama, of Illinois, he said, is “more likely to run than not” and will garner a lot of visibility.

Former vice president and 2000 Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore “may or may not run. I don’t think he will,” Halperin said.

Halperin challenged the public to help end what he called “the freak show” that has come to control national politics. In the “freak show,” he said, someone wanting to damage a political opponent leaks a bit of information to The Drudge Report. It’s picked up by Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, and it eventually finds its way to other outlets. He said that journalists and politicians must do their part to change the culture, but that the public also can play a role by demanding change.

“That uplifted me a little bit,” crowd member Debby Hadel, of Perry, said afterward.