I think the Treks are a pretty safe bet. Barring that the original poster has just said that this will not be his/her first foray into the sport, if he/she did make the mistake of buying a midrange bike and then not liking cycling, he/she could always recoup a pretty good amount of the money selling the Trek which has a nice name brand attached to it given recent popular events and celebrities.
That said, to the original poster. I will second the Fujis. They're underrated but good bikes. You might also want to check out the Giant OCR2 but be careful with sizing and make sure the fit is spot-on without having to adjust the stem and saddle to extreme degrees. I have a real soft-spot for the Specialized Allez (used to own one myself) and think they're a great all-around bike with good value for the price. I'd be looking at the Allez Elites in that lineup. Also you might want to look at Felts and Ibex bikes. Another brand to check out is LeMond (owned by Trek). The LeMond Reno is right in your pricerange, handles nimbly and has a good set of components.