From Relative Obscurity, Obama’s Star Rose Quickly
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By Marie Horrigan
Congressional Quarterly
January 16, 2007
Long before his announcement Tuesday that he is officially exploring a bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama set his sights on a trajectory of achievement.
The graduate of two Ivy League universities has, nonetheless, enjoyed a stunningly rapid rise to political prominence over a period of just three years — from a virtual unknown outside his home base on Chicago’s South Side to the rousing keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention that year, to his current status as the only African-American senator and potential contender to become the nation’s first black president.
The following is a biographical timeline of Obama’s life and career so far, compiled by CQPolitics.com’s Marie Horrigan.
• Aug. 4, 1961: Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a black father, Kenyan immigrant Barack Obama Sr., and a white mother, Kansas-born Ann Dunham. Both his parents were students at the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii. Raised mostly in Hawaii, though he spent part of his youth in Indonesia with his mother after she was divorced from his father.
• 1979-81: Attended Occidental College in northeast Los Angeles.
• 1983: Graduated from New York’s Columbia University with a B.A. in political science after transferring from Occidental.
• 1985: Moved to Chicago to work for a church-based group to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods.
• 1991: Graduated from Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law.
• 1992: Married wife Michelle, also an attorney, whom he had met when they worked at the same law firm.
• 1995: Published autobiography “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.”
• 1996: Elected to the Illinois Senate, where he would serve until his election as senator in 2004.
• 2000: Challenged Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush for the Chicago-based 1st Congressional district seat. Despite gaining early note for his intellect and eloquence, Obama loses badly, taking 30 percent of the vote to Rush’s 61 percent in a four-candidate race.
• 2003: Launched bid for the Senate seat left open by retiring one-term Republican Sen. Peter G. Fitzgerald, who in 1998 had unseated one-term Democratic Sen. Carol Moseley Braun — who was then the only African-American in the Senate.
• March 16, 2004: Won seven-way Democratic primary with an unexpectedly strong 53 percent of the vote, defeating the runner-up candidate by 29 points. The Republicans on the same date nominated wealthy financier Jack Ryan, who won the eight-way Republican primary with 35 percent of the vote.
• June 25, 2004: Got a huge boost, and Republican hopes of holding the seat crumbled, after the divorced Ryan withdrew from the race amid allegations he coerced his then-wife — actress Jeri Ryan — to go to sex clubs with him.
• July 27, 2004: Soared to national prominence after delivering a keynote address that almost instantly became the most memorable highlight of the Democratic National Convention in Boston, delivered at the invitation of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Obama subsequently re-issued his autobiography to include the convention address.
• Aug. 8, 2004: After floundering in search for a candidate to replace Ryan, Illinois Republicans tried to shake up the contest by choosing staunchly conservative Republican Alan Keyes — a radio talk show host and former U.S. diplomat — as their new nominee. The pick set up a campaign between two African-American candidates.
But the move was poorly received, in part because Keyes was a resident of Maryland (where he had lost two previous Senate bids) and in part because Keyes was widely seen as too ideological a conservative for a state that has been trending Democratic.
• Nov. 2, 2004: Obama trounced Keyes by 70 percent to 27 percent. His vote share was the highest ever for a popularly elected senator from Illinois.
• Jan. 4, 2005: Sworn into office as the junior senator for Illinois.
• Jan. 25, 2005: Filed with the Federal Election Commission to establish HopeFund, a political action committee with a mission statement of “promoting the candidacies of leaders who are committed to changing the course of our nation to ensure the promise of America for future generations.”
• 2006: Authored a second book, “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.”
• Jan. 22, 2006: Told NBC’s Tim Russert on “Meet the Press” that he would not run for president in 2008, despite speculation that he might.
• Oct. 22, 2006: Told Russert, again on “Meet the Press,” that he was reconsidering the idea of running for president in 2008 and would announce a decision after the 2006 midterm elections. “I am still at the point where I have not made a decision to pursue higher office, but it is true that I have thought about it over the last several months,” he said.
• Jan. 16, 2007: Announced he is forming an exploratory campaign committee for a possible presidential bid, with a final decision to be announced in Illinois on Feb. 10.
Sources: CQ.com, obama.senate.gov, barackobama.com, Federal Election Commission, Illinois Secretary of State Web site, www.C-SPAN.org, HopeFund Web site, MSNBC.msn.com.
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