Age on Jan. 20, 2009: 47
Full name: Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.
Family: Wife Michelle Robinson Obama. Two children.
Education: B.A. in political science, Columbia University, 1983, also attended Occidental College; J.D., Harvard University Law School, magna cum laude, 1992, first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.
Career highlights: Lecturer on constitutional law, University of Chicago, civil rights attorney, community organizer, 1993-7; author, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, 1995; Illinois state senator, 1997-2004; Senator from Illinois, 2005-8, served on Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Grammy award in spoken-word recording for Dreams from My Father audiobook, author, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, 2006, Grammy award in spoken-word recording for The Audacity of Hope audiobook, Democratic presidential nominee, 2008, President-Elect, present.
Political pluses and minuses: Being such a new, young senator was nothing but an asset for Obama's presidential effort, as he brought a fresh, eloquent voice to the political debate and ran credibly as a Washington outsider. Obama announced his candidacy from the steps of the Old Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, Feb. 10, 2007. He will be the first African American president, or to put it another way, the twenty-fourth Irish American president (and the first also of African heritage) and the first president born in Hawaii. Obama's campaign was sure-footed, with just a few slight breaks in the momentum. Obama well outraised Sen. John McCain in terms of money raised, small donations and the number of contributors. He brought in new, energized young and independent voters. Obama claimed the Democratic presidential nomination as he secured the majority of convention delegates on June 3, 2008, with a rousing speech in St. Paul, Minnesota, congratulating the historic candidacy of Sen. Hillary Clinton and criticizing the already failed proposals of President Bush and GOP candidate McCain. Sen. Obama chose Delaware Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate Aug. 23. He formally accepted the Democratic nomination for president in Denver Aug. 28 with a powerful speech at Mile High Stadium. He won all three presidential debates against a cranky, disconnected Sen. McCain. He became the President-Elect on Nov. 4, 2008 with an electoral vote landslide, with the most votes of any presidential candidate in American history and as the first Democratic presidential nominee to win a majority of the popular vote since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Official sites:
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