Candidate Status:

In

Current Job:

Senator from Illinois

Birth Date:

August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii

Family:

Wife Michelle Robinson; two children

Religion:

United Church of Christ

Education:

Columbia University, B.A., 1983
Harvard Law School, J.D., 1991

Career:

Barack Obama is a first-term U.S. senator from Illinois. He also served for eight years in the Illinois State Senate. Before attending Harvard Law School, Obama worked as an advocate in poor Chicago neighborhoods, promoting faith-based initiatives aimed at improving quality of life. Obama is the author of two best-selling books -- "Dreams From My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope" -- and is often described as a "rising star" within the Democratic Party.

Other facts:

• Barack's father was a Kenyan immigrant.
• Barack spent part of his childhood living in Indonesia.
• Barack was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review

Abortion:

Obama supports abortion rights. He opposed restrictions on public financing of abortions while serving in the Illinois legislature. He said partial-birth abortion only focuses on 1 percent of all cases, and would entrust a woman to make such a decision for herself.

Energy/Environment:

Obama would create a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, taking revenues generated from the program to help those negatively impacted by the limits. He would also raise fuel efficiency standards for cars. Obama would establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard that would require all transportation fuels to contain 5 percent less carbon by 2015 and 10 percent less carbon by 2020. He believes the plan would spur investment in renewable fuels and help reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions.

Immigration:

Obama says it is vital to bring out of the shadows the 12 million illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S. by implementing a system through which illegals could earn citizenship by paying a fine, learning English, and waiting their turn behind legal immigrants. Obama says the U.S. needs a better employment verification system and more serious employer sanctions for those who hire illegal immigrants. He also voted for the 2006 Kennedy-McCain immigration reform bill and is in favor of a border fence.

Iraq:

Obama favors a timeline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. He introduced a bill that would cap the number of troops in Iraq at 130,000, the number on the ground before the recent surge. Obama was not in the Senate in 2002, but was opposed to the Iraq war from the start.

Taxes

Obama would let expire tax cuts for households earning more than $250,000. He acknowledges that additional revenue might be needed to achieve his health care goals, but says a large amount of money can be saved within the existing system.

Coming soon.