Bacrak Obama

Barack Obama - Democrat

If there was one lesson to be learned by the March 2004 Illinois primary, it's that occasionally David doesn't just beat Goliath, he makes it look easy. This "skinny guy from the South Side with a funny name," Barack Obama, didn't have as much money as Blair Hull, and he didn't have as much clout as Dan Hynes. But on election day, he won by a landslide.

What helped Obama win over voters were his credentials. He’s a two-term state senator from Hyde Park. He’s got a law degree from Harvard, where he was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. He’s a civil rights attorney, and he lectures at University of Chicago. He’s got awards, recognition, and he’s even a published author. And at 43, he’s a young, fresh face, full of enthusiasm and ideas.

But he also had something perhaps more valuable than money: experience at the grassroots level as an organizer of a successful 1992 vote drive.

Now Obama, a married father of two, seems to have the upperhand leading up to the general election. Not only was Obama making national headlines for his victory, but his Republican opponent, Jack Ryan, was making national punchlines after Ryan's steamy divorce records were released. Ryan, down in the polls and realizing that party leadership had turned their backs on him, dropped out. And while GOP leaders struggled to find a replacement candidate -- a search fraught with in-fighting and embarrassments -- Obama ascended to the national stage after being hand-picked by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. The speech electrified the convention, and Obama was dubbed the party's rising star.

Nearly two weeks after Obama's speech, the GOP finally find their replacement candidate: Former Ambassador to the UN, Alan Keyes, a conservative who lived in Maryland and had no previous connection to Illinois. In his acceptance of the speech, Keyes immediately accused Obama of favoring "live birth" abortion. He also criticized Obama for backing away from a promise the Democrat had made to Jack Ryan: A promise for six debates across the state leading up to the election. Obama offered Keyes three debates, and fended off the criticism by saying that Keyes hasn't addressed what he'll do about creating jobs and health care, issues Obama says matter most to the people of Illinois.

Issues: Obama supports Head Start, a program that is in jeopardy under President Bush and the Republican-controlled congress. Obama believes in preserving the program, saying it makes the difference for at-risk youths and saves money on special education. He also supports improving schools, from top to bottom, from changing their unreliable system for funding to improving teacher certification and training requirements and increasing programming for after school activities.

He also supports reforming prescription drug pricing system to allow seniors to buy drugs in bulk at reduced rates, limiting pharmaceutical advertising and focusing public health efforts on supporting immunizations and mental health and preventing obesity and the spread of HIV. He's not against the death penelty, but believes that significant reforms in the criminal justice system need to be made before it can be fairly applied.

Recent activities: Obama just ended a post-convention campaign swing across the state, focusing on heavily Republican counties, from northern DeKalb to downstate Douglas.

Selected primary endorsements: Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Rep. Danny Davis, Rep. Lane Evans, State Senate President Emil Jones, Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE!), International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 705.

For more information about Barack Obama, visit his U.S. Senate campaign site at www.obamaforillinois.com.

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