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It is still 107 days until the 2009 presidential inauguration, but Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) seems to have started his first 100 days already.

He is leading his fellow Democrats in planning an economic stimulus package that will probably dwarf the $61 billion passed by the House an economic eon ago — that is, last month.

Events are moving at lightning speed. The $30 billion bailout of Bear Stearns now seems like small potatoes. Even the $85 billion rescue of AIG and the $200 billion tab from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seem like bite-sized sums compared to what has come in their wake.

This month we have moved on to a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street, and this week we are nationalizing the country’s biggest banks. In this light, $61 billion looks about as impressive and effective as an umbrella in a hurricane.

Thus, the second economic stimulus has blown past its initial parameters, and it would be shocking if the package eventually proffered by Obama and the Democratic congressional leadership does not double the original number, or triple it, or more.

After her meeting with senior party officials and economists on Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said they were coalescing around aid to states, extended unemployment insurance benefits, transportation and infrastructure spending, and perhaps federal checks for taxpayers and non-taxpayers alike.

House Democrats will probably try to pass such a package in a lame-duck session in the third week of November, although Pelosi has not committed to attempting this. Even if she does so, it is far from clear that the Senate, which caviled at $61 billion, would swallow something bigger. And President Bush might veto it.

But it is clear that the Democrats are now thinking big and taking their cue from Obama, who they believe, with justification, is heading for the White House.

A major economic stimulus is at the top of their list of priorities. A huge publicity drive (also known as the general-election campaign) will provide it with a momentum that may be irresistible. In a shift from earlier this year, congressional Republicans have said they favor a second economic stimulus — just not the Democrats’ package. Yet their message doesn’t appear to be resonating.

Congressional Democrats see Obama as their standard-bearer for a package, continued talk of which will propel them to big victories on Nov. 4.

“In many ways,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), “this is the economic challenge of our lifetime,” but it also presents “tremendous opportunities.”

It does indeed. The economy is Obama’s and the Democrats’ issue, and they are not going to change the subject.