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April 22, 2008
Election 2008
Senator, Illinois
Barack Obama
Democrat
The youngest candidate in the 2008 race for the White House, Barack Obama is currently the junior senator from the state of Illinois. Sen. Obama is the fifth African American senator in U.S. history and the only African American currently serving in the U.S. Senate.
After earning an undergraduate degree from Columbia University, Obama began his professional career as a community organizer, working to improve living conditions on Chicago's South side. Obama realized that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics. He entered Harvard Law School, where he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.
Viewed by many as America's first viable African American presidential candidate, Sen. Obama raised more than $1 million a day in 2007, largely thanks to small online donors.
Quick Facts
- Occupation: U.S. Senator — Illinois
- Age: 46
- Birth date: August 4, 1961
- Family: Married to Michelle Robinson; daughters Malia and Sasha
- Education: B.A., Columbia University; J.D., Harvard Law School
- Professional Experience: Lecturer, University of Chicago Law School; Attorney, Miner, Barnhill & Galland
- Political Experience: U.S. Senate; Illinois State Senate
- Religious Affiliation: United Church of Christ
Did You Know?
- The audio book edition of his autobiography, Dreams from My Father, earned Obama a 2005 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album.
- Alternate career choice - Architect
- Favorite fitness activity - Basketball
- Worst habit - Checking his Blackberry
- Last work of fiction read - Gilead by Marilynne Robinson