It's not that new.
Posted on 03/30/2004 11:38:28 AM PST by refusenix
March 30, 2004 | CHICAGO -- I met Barack Obama, the new Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate from Illinois, eight years ago, at the home of mutual friends. Making introductions, our hostess suggested we had a good deal in common. Like me, Obama was an author -- he had recently published an autobiography, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" -- and he was a graduate of Harvard Law School, my legal alma mater. Unlike me, however, Obama was about to step into politics as a candidate for the Illinois State Senate from Hyde Park, home of the University of Chicago and a stretch of poor neighborhoods that run west from there. I spent much of the evening speaking to Obama and his wife, Michelle, yet another Harvard Law School graduate, and bought Obama's book the next day, which I praised when we met again. In the ensuing years I have stayed in touch with him, observing the ups and downs of his political career.
At the moment, Obama's career is way up, the result of one of the more impressive political victories in recent Illinois history. Sixteen months ago, when he entered the U.S. Senate race here, the odds seemed decidedly against Obama, who was running in his first statewide contest and whose Kenyan last name rhymes uncomfortably with Osama. Yet on March 16, Obama captured 53 percent of the vote in a six-person field, more than double the vote garnered by his nearest competitor, Illinois' comptroller, Dan Hynes. Hynes, who comes across as quiet, competent and likable, had been elected statewide twice before, and as the son of the former Cook County assessor, he is a scion of Chicago's Democratic machine, whose apparatus was fully behind him throughout the campaign. Despite that, Obama outpolled Hynes even in Hynes' home ward in Chicago. Coming in a distant third in the race was Blair Hull, who made half a billion dollars in the brokerage business and who spent $29 million of it on the primary. As the result of an early TV blitz, Hull led in the polls, until a past that included spousal-abuse charges and chemical-dependency treatment sank him.
Barack Obama now becomes the national flag-bearer for Democratic hopes to retake the U.S. Senate, which the Republicans hold by one vote. He is hoping to win the seat being vacated by Republican Peter Fitzgerald, whose quixotic maneuvers in the Senate left him bereft of support at the end of one term. Handsome, poised, intelligent, Obama has already begun to attract national attention, as he moves toward becoming only the third African-American elected to the Senate in more than a century.
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
It's not that new.
No, but you might start getting concerned about that aroma of ozone building in the air.
I suppose that may depend upon who you mean by "we."
Another man of the people, obviously.
State Senator Barack Obama, D-Chicago, announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate on Tuesday. Pictured in front row from left to right are State Senator and Lake County Democrat Chairman Terry Link, former Chicago Bears star Chris Zorich, Obama, Congressman Danny Davis and State Senator Jacquelyn Collins. Also endorsing Obama at the downtown Chicago event were Senate President Emil Jones and State Senator and Reverend James Meeks.
Interesting. You just signed up and you know what the ozone reference is about. Are you sure you haven't been here before?
And your very first post is from Salon.com, but you can't possibly understand why someone might think you're trolling.
Don't worry, if you are a troll pretending to be a conservative, or a prior banee who is returning and pretending to be a newbie, you'll out yourself soon enough.
I've seen hundreds of trolls come and go (usually quickly) on FR. When someone's first post is from a liberal source, there is a good chance they are a troll. Since you've read this site every day, I figure you would have known that.
Holy cats man, relax a little and you'll live longer.
Troll hunting is quite relaxing. No bag limit and they're always in season.
Again I'll ask, do you want to talk about this or not?
I think Obama will probably win. The Illinois GOP is a royal mess nowadays.
There, do you feel better?
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