Portrait

Date of Birth

August 04, 1961

Political Career: Political Career

Obama won a seat in the Illinois senate in 1996 and was reelected in 1998. His work in the state senate included legislation increasing tax credits for low income workers, reforming ethics, health care and welfare reform. Obama also sponsored legislation that made Illinois the first state that required videotaped homicide interrogation, in order to monitor racial profiling. Obama ran for a seat in the House of Representatives, but lost the Democratic primary. He was reelected to state senate in 2002. In 2003, he became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee. In 2003, Obama became his U.S. Senate campaign. Obama won a landslide victory against Alan Keyes. He was the keynote speaker at the DNC Convention in 2004. In senate, Obama co-sponsored numerous bills, including the Defense Authorization Act and the Coburn-Obama Transparency Act, and was the primary sponsor of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act and Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007, among others. Obama worked on such committees as Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works and Veterans' Affairs, and later Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs. Obama announced his candidacy for president in 2007. Despite Clinton's apparent lead in the polls, Obama won the Iowa caucus and primaries in Nevada and South Carolina. After Super Tuesday, Obama led Clinton by 20 delegates, and won eleven primaries in a row. Obama currently holds a large delegate lead to Clinton, and is presumed to become the Democratic Party's presidential nominee.

Personal Life: Personal Life

Obama met Michelle Robinson at Sidley Austin, a law firm in Chicago. Michelle was Obama's advisor. They married in 1992. His daughters, Malia Ann and Natasha, were born in 1998 and 2001 respectively. Previously a smoker, Obama began his effort to quit before his presidential campaign. Though not raised in a religious family, Obama is a consistent churchgoer and writes about religion in his bestselling "The Audacity of Hope." However, Obama stresses the need for separation between relgiion and politics. The Obama family recently left Trinity United Church.

Education

Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a B.A. in political science. He worked for five years before entering Harvard law School in 1988. While at Harvard, Obama became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude in 1991

Early Life: Early Life

Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr., from Nyangoma-Kogelo, Siaya District, Kenya, and Ann Dunham, of Wichita, Kansas. Obama's parents divorced and his mother married Lolo Soetoro, of Indonesia. The family moved to Indonesia, where Obama attended local school until the age of ten, when he returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. After graduating from Columbia, Obama worked at Business International Corporation and New York Public Interest Research Group. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Obama led a voter registration drive in Chicago and published his first book, Dreams of My Father, in 1995. Obam taught constitutional law and University of Chicago Law School from 1993-2004 and served on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago from 1993-2002. Obama also worked as an associate attorney with Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland from 1993 to 2002, working summers while he served as state senator for Illinois.

Associations

Barack Obama is a candidate in the race for President of the United States of America

Barack Obama takes the position:

• Support Civil Unions, Oppose Marriage for the issue Gay Marriage
• Withdraw our troops now for the issue Iraq War

Barack Obama is a member of the Democratic Party