Coming up fast in run for President, Senator Barack Obama

Senator Barack Obama, the charismatic Jr. Senator from Illinois, has achieved national attention in recent days, following his announced plans to run for United States President in 2008.
The popular young Obama has been compared to a "rock star", and sells out seats whenever he speaks.
Obama is considered by some to be young, and in-experienced. He has no notable military background, and limited experience in international diplomacy. He toured Africa in 2006. In that same year, he also toured Iraq.
Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) was elected to the US Senate on November 2, 2004, and will next be up for reelection on November 2, 2010.
In October 2006, Senator Obama stated that he's considering a 2008 run for the presidency. Obama received national attention when he delivered a key-note speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention
Senator Obama's first of three books , "The Audacity of Hope," discusses his political convictions. He has written two other books; his auto-biography was a national best-seller.

Senator Obama focuses on promoting public education, health care, civil rights, ethics, economic growth/jobs, and support for working families.
As an Illinois state senator, he worked for civil rights and liberties, ethics reforms and criminal justice.
In 2002, Obama publicly opposed the Bush Administration's push for the Iraq War, but supported the war in Afghanistan.

Senator Obama has actively participated in the following committees:
- Committee on Foreign Relations
- Subcommittee on African Affairs
- Subcommittee on International Economic Policy
- Subcommittees on Asians and Pacific Affairs
- Committee on Veterans' Affairs
- Committee on the Environment and Public Works

Barack Obama favors affirmative action programs, strong enforcement of civil rights, opposes privatization of Social Security, opposes the death penalty and mandatory three-strike sentencing guidelines and favors humanely loosening immigration laws.
He opposes the expansion of global free trade unless it holds tangible US benefits, and favors linking human rights to trade with China.
Barack Obama served seven years as an Illinois State Senator, resigning to assume US Senate responsibilities. He also worked as a community organizer and a civil rights attorney. The Senator is a Senior Lecturer in Constitutional Law at University of Chicago Law School.
After law school, he aggressively organized one of the largest voter registration drives in Chicago history to help Bill Clinton's 1992 election.

Faith - Christian, United Church of Christ
The Senator and his wife have two young daughters. They return to their Chicago home from Washington DC every weekend. Obama is a Chicago White Sox fan.

Senator Obama had some hint of scandal in Illinois over his relationship with Antoin "Tony" Rezko.
In June, 2005, Barack Obama and Antoin "Tony" Rezko purchased adjoining parcels of land in Kenwood, IL. The Junior Senator from Illinois paid $1.65 million for a Georgian Revival Mansion, $300,000 less than the asking price. On the same day, Tony Rezko paid $625,000 for the adjacent undeveloped lot.
In July, 2006, in an effort to increase the size of his side-yard, and for the purpose of building a fence, Barack Obama paid Rezko $104,500 for a ten foot wide strip of his land.
Political fundraiser Antoin Rezko in under indictment for seeking kick-backs from firms. He is known as a promoter of gambling interests. Obama has steadfastly voted against gambling concerns.
Obama and Rezko have been friends for several years, and have occasionally dined together in a foursome, with their wives.

From The Chicago Sun Times:
November 5, 2006
BY DAVE MCKINNEY AND CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporters Contributing: Mark Brown
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama expressed regret late Friday for his 2005 land purchase from now-indicted political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko in a deal that enlarged the senator's yard.
"I consider this a mistake on my part and I regret it," Obama told the Chicago Sun-Times in an exclusive and revealing question-and-answer exchange about the transaction.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama will be the only black member among 100 senators when Congress convenes in January and only the fifth African-American to serve there.
The son of a Kenyan man and a white woman from Kansas, Mr Obama said in a speech before congress:
"Through hard work and perseverance my father got a scholarship to study in a magical place - America, which stood as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many who had come before"

Mr Obama, 42, is currently a state senator for Illinois, representing a district in south Chicago.
Mr Obama stunned Democratic opponents when he won his party's state nomination in March, facing six opponents and still winning 53% of the vote.
Supporters say he appeals to black and white voters alike. He is also said to have an ability to connect with white rural and small-town voters - a trait Mr Obama puts down to his family background.

Mr Obama is named after his father who grew up in Kenya herding goats, but gained a scholarship to study in Hawaii.
There the Kenyan met and married Mr Obama's mother, originally from Kansas, who had moved to Honolulu with her parents. Barack Obama's parents later divorced.

When Mr Obama was six, his mother, Ann, re-married, this time to an Indonesian oil manager and the family moved to Jakarta. The boy lived there for four years, but then moved back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents and attend school.
Both his parents are now dead.
Mr Obama went on to study political science at Columbia University in New York, and then moved to Chicago where he spent three years as a community organizer.
In 1988 he left to attend Harvard Law School, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review.
After Harvard, Mr Obama returned to Chicago to practice civil rights law, rejecting the big corporate law firms to represent victims of housing and employment discrimination.

He is married to a lawyer, Michelle, and they have two young daughters.
Mr Obama still practices law, and also does some teaching at the University of Chicago Law School which he says keeps him sharp when it comes to issues like abortion, gay rights and affirmative action.
Mr Obama was an early critic of the Iraq war, speaking out against the prospect of war several months before the March 2003 invasion.
When he addressed Democrats in Boston, he praised the men and women serving in Iraq, and said more should be done to financially support the families of those killed.
"When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world," he said.