TIME magazine has released its shortlist for 2012′s Person of the Year and it looks like President Barack Obama has a chance to reclaim his 2008 title. 

The annual issue, usually published in December or January, features a person, group or idea editors believe have “most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.”

President Obama, who made the cover in 2008 as the nation’s first African-American president, is among the 38 nominees for the spot. 

But the president is not without his competition. Also up for the title are Olympic sweetheart Gabby Douglas and hip-hop mogul Jay-Z. 

The 16-year-old, two gold medal winning athlete accomplished a number of firsts at the London Olympic Games this summer, including becoming the first U.S. gymnast to win both the all-around and team gold medals in the same year, and the first African-America gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title. 

And Jay-Z has been incredibly busy this year, too. In addition to welcoming daughter Blue Ivy Carter into the world this January, he also started his own musical festival — Philadelphia’s “Made in America”. He made headlines again after performing eight sold-out shows to celebrate the opening of Brooklyn’s new Barclays Center where the Nets, a team he partly owns, plays.

But its the rapper’s political involvement that TIME emphasizes: 

The list is open for voting until December 12th, and the 2012 cover issue will hit stands December 21st.