For Sen. Barack Obama, 2005 was a very good year.

The freshman Democrat from Illinois reaped big bucks from book deals, and his wife got a promotion and hefty pay raise, as their reported household income surpassed the total from the seven previous years combined. Obama has been mentioned as a possible 2008 presidential candidate.

According to their joint tax returns, Obama and his wife, Michelle, earned $1.67 million in total income last year – about $70,000 more than they earned for all of 1998 through 2004.