This story was sent to you by: SOMEONE WHO ISN'T SURE
ABOUT BARACK OBAMA (THIER NAME WAS REMOVED BY ME)

this is the article i was talking about from the
times.

--------------------
Careful steps, looking ahead
--------------------

After arriving in Springfield, Barack Obama proved
cautious, but it was
clear to many he had ambitions beyond the state Senate


OK THATS SMART AND HE IS SMART

By Rick Pearson and Ray Long
Tribune staff reporters

May 3, 2007

SPRINGFIELD -- Sen. Barack Obama calls himself a
strong defender of
abortion rights, and the presidential contender
quickly condemned the
recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding a ban on a
controversial
late-term procedure. The decision, he feared, "will
embolden state
legislatures to enact further measures to restrict a
woman's right to choose."

YES BARACK KNOWS LAW AND HE IS SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW
MOST AMERICANS DON'T LIKE LATE TERM ABORTIONS AND I AM
ONE OF THEM BUT HE IS ALSO SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT
THE SUPREME COURT RULING COULD TAKE AWAY ALL WOMENS
RIGHTS TO ABORTION.

But this is how Obama voted in 1997 when he was new to
the Illinois
legislature and got a chance to take a stand against
bills to impose a
similar statewide ban on what critics call
partial-birth abortion:

"Present," the political equivalent of taking a pass.

THIS IS SMART. HE DIDN'T HAVE THE VOTES TO CHANGE
ANYTHING SO HE SMARTLY VOTED PRESENT. VERY SMART.

Obama's short time in Washington offers a limited
guide to his
political views and methods, but he spent nearly eight
years in the Illinois
Senate. "It was that experience in the legislature
that convinced me that
politics can be a noble calling," he said in a recent
campaign
appearance.


I BELIEVE THIS TO BE HIS TRUE NATURE. BEING NOBLE THAT
IS.


If Springfield is the measure of Obama the politician,
a review of his
tenure is a study in complexity, caution and
calculation. In the
minority party for all but his final two years in the
Statehouse, he tempered
a progressive agenda with a cold dash of realism,
often forging
consensus with conservative Republicans when other
liberals wanted to crusade.

AGAIN VERY SMART. HE DIDN'T JUST JOIN A BUNCH OF
RADICAL DEMOCRATS WHO WANTED TO DIVIDE US. VERY SMART
I THINK.

The insular world of Springfield also served as a
prelude to some of
the challenges confronting Obama on the presidential
campaign trail.
While some African-American colleagues in the state
capital viewed him as a
dynamic leader, others were put off by the pedigree of
a
Harvard-educated lawyer raised in exotic places far
from Chicago's West and South
Sides. Some in the Senate Black Caucus went out of
their way to haze him.

THAT IS FOOLISH OF THOSE BLACK LEADERS WHO SEEM TO BE
PREJUDICE OF HIS EDUCATION.

At the same time Obama, who is biracial, bonded with a
trio of white
colleagues from the suburbs and Downstate. They became
some of his
closest friends, poker-playing buddies and sounding
boards.

NOTHING WRONG WITH HAVING FRIENDS OF ALL COLORS.

He took leadership roles on reform measures dealing
with the death
penalty, racial profiling, tax credits for the working
poor and ethics,
issues that earned him praise from Democratic
supporters and even some
Republicans.

AGAIN HERE BARACK SHOWS THAT HE HAS A CARING HEART.

But Obama wasn't above playing the political angles.

He pushed to get state-run pension funds to open more
investment
opportunities for minority money managers who donated
to his campaign. During
his 2004 U.S. Senate primary bid, Obama sent a
newsletter to
constituents at taxpayer expense that touted his
accomplishments. It went out
just days before the effective date of a ban on such
practices close to
election time -- part of a reform package he had
championed.

NOTHING WRONG HERE ABOUT BARACK TOUTING HIS HELPING
MINORITIES GET AHEAD. WE NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE HIM
DOING THAT AND HELPING TO LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD OF
LIFE.

Perhaps nothing illustrated Obama's calculating style
more than his
approach to abortion. The state Senate voted 14 times
on various abortion
restrictions during his tenure. Half the time, Obama
voted "present."

AGAIN HERE HE IS SMART. NO SENSE FIGHTING A LOSING
BATTLE WITH THE REPUBLICANS IN CONTROL.

He said it was a strategy agreed to by abortion-rights
advocates to
insulate Democrats from political backlash in more
conservative areas. But
Obama's Hyde Park district was one of the state's most
liberal.

HE LISTENED TO THE ABORTION RIGHT ADVOCATES. SMART
AGAIN. THEY SURELY KNOW MORE THAN THIS WRITER.

From the moment he arrived in the Illinois Senate, it
was clear to many
that Obama didn't plan to stay. Just months into
office, he approached
then-Senate Democratic Chief of Staff Mike Hoffman and
offered to buy
him a beer. The two adjourned to a hotel bar.

Talk turned to how Obama's name might play with
Downstate voters in a
statewide race, Hoffman recalled recently. "We talked
about in a
campaign, if you have a strange name, you could have
some fun with it."

No specific office came up, Hoffman said, but the
legislative
freshman's message was clear. Obama "wanted me to know
that he had other
ambitions."

AND A SMART MAN LIKE BARACK SHOULD THINK AHEAD SO AS
TO MAKE CHANGES IN THE WORLD. VERY SMART AND LOOKING
AHEAD ATITUDE.


'Hollywood' and the upstart

Obama arrived in Springfield with an important ally.
Emil Jones, then
the minority leader of the chamber and later its
president, fancied
himself a mentor to Obama. To Jones, Obama represented
"the future,"
someone who "embodies all that I dream and work for."

HE DOES THE SAME FOR ME AS WELL.

The two met on a street corner years earlier when
Obama's South Side
community group coincidentally convened an outdoor
meeting just doors
from Jones' house. They have been close ever since.

WHICH SHOWS WHERE HE CAME FROM AND WHAT HE DID TO EARN
HIS PLACE TODAY.

Obama needed a powerful friend. He had breezed to
election in 1996 by
forcing all his Democratic opponents off the ballot,
including a popular
member of the Senate Black Caucus, incumbent Alice
Palmer. That bit of
hardball didn't endear him to many in the caucus.

WELL IF THE BLACK CAUCUS ONLY WANTED TO GET OR KEEP
WELFARE FOR THEIR PEOPLE THAT DOESN'T SEEM SMART FOR
THEM AS BARACK GETTING THEM AN EDUCATION AND JOBS WILL
HELP THEM FAR MORE. LIKE HE SAID IN SELMA GET OFF THE
COUCH UNCLE SO AND SO.

Before taking office, Obama sought advice from Rep.
Art Turner, a
veteran West Side Democrat. Turner warned him not to
"come in the door
looking like you're all-knowing" and to "realize that
some aren't ready for
reform or changes."

WELL ITS HARD FOR A MAN LIKE BARACK WHO HAS SUCH
NATURAL KNOW EVERYTHING MENTALITY SO I DON'T SEE
ANYTHING WRONG HERE EITHER.

Obama also reached out to former state Rep. Paul
Williams, a longtime
lobbyist who once served as legislative aide to Harold
Washington when
the former Chicago mayor was in the General Assembly.
Williams found
himself healing relations between Obama and senior
lawmakers.

"Let's face it," Williams said in a recent interview.
"There's certain
African-Americans that the world is more likely to
fall [for] than
others. Barack fits all of that stuff: educated,
smart, good-looking, lean,
all of these kind of things."

WELL I DON'T THINK I WOULD CALL BARACKS ONLY ASSETS
HIS LOOKS. HE SURELY HAS SMARTS. I THINK MR WILLIAMS
MAY BE JELOUS.

Obama was just months into his first term when Jones
began doling out
assignments to him befitting a more senior lawmaker.
For instance, Jones
made Obama the lead Democratic negotiator on a
landmark welfare-to-work
package Republicans were pushing.

AGAIN A GOOD THING FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR SO THEY CAN GET
OUT OF THE WELFARE TRAP. YES SOME NEED IT AND I AM
SURE BARACK WEIGHED THAT TOO.

His rise caused friction in the Senate's Black Caucus.
Some caucus
veterans thought Obama hadn't paid his dues and were
resentful of the
attention Jones was lavishing on someone they
considered an Ivy League
upstart.

WELL THATS PLAIN JELOUSY AND NOT VERY UNDERSTANDING OF
SOMEONE WHO KNOWS VERSUS SOMEONE WITH TIME IN. MANY
TIMES IN LIFE PEOPLE TOLD ME THE SAME THING. I ONCE
MADE 3 TIMES MORE THAN MECHANICS WHO HAD FAMILIES TO
FEED AND I WAS 12 YRS OLD. HOWEVER, I DIDN'T WASTE IT
OR FLAUNT IT.

Among the most put out was Sen. Rickey Hendon, a
streetwise West Sider
nicknamed "Hollywood" who once hoped to be a movie
producer. Another
lawmaker giving Obama a hard time was Sen. Donne
Trotter, the Democratic
point man on budget issues. In 2000, Trotter and Obama
vied to unseat
U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, but didn't come close to
toppling the South Side
congressman.

In Springfield, Hendon and Trotter would "just give
Barack hell" and
disparage him as a know-it-all, said Sen. Kimberly
Lightford (D-Maywood),
who was chairwoman of the chamber's Black Caucus.

WELL AGAIN IT SOUNDS LIKE JELOUSY AND JUST BECAUSE
THEY ARE STREET SMART DOESN'T MEAN THEY ARE
POLITICALLY SMART.

In a recent interview, Obama said the tension was
particularly intense
during his push for ethics reforms. "The general
perception was,
'Here's the new guy coming in and he is acting holier
than thou,'
" he recalled.

WELL BARACK MAY APPEAR THAT WAY TO SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T
KNOW HOLY.

Once, Obama and Hendon nearly came to blows. Obama had
voted for budget
cuts that eliminated a child welfare office in
Hendon's district. On
the Senate floor, Hendon said Obama had "a lot of
nerve to talk about
being responsible" to those in need and then voting to
cut services to the
poor.

WELL MAYBE MR HENDON SHOULD THINK TWICE ABOUT KEEPING
HIS CONSTITUENTS ON WELFARE AND GETTING ELECTED FOR
DOING SO. IT SEEMS TO ME BARACK KNEW THE BIGGER
PICTURE AND DIDN'T WANT TO BUY VOTES BY KEEPING A
WELFARE OFFICE. THATS HONESTY.

Saying he didn't realize he was voting for the cuts,
Obama added: "I
would appreciate that next time my dear colleague,
Sen. Hendon, ask me
about a vote before he names me on the floor."

IT SEEMS MR HENDON GOT CAUGHT IN HIS OWN KARMA AND
BARACK WAS BLAMED. SHAME ON MR HENDON.

Microphones off, the two headed to the back of the
Senate chamber where
Obama tried to put his hand on Hendon's shoulder.
Hendon slapped it
away.

WELL BARACK ONLY DID AND HONEST THING AND TRIED TO
BEFRIEND HIS FRIEND AS HE SAID HE DIDN'T KNOW HE HURT
ANYONE BY HIS ACTIONS. MR HENDON DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A
MAN WITH AN OPEN MIND BUT AS SOMEONE WITH A CHIP ON
HIS SHOULDER.

Asked about the incident recently, Hendon said, "My
memory is foggy on
that issue. It's going to remain foggy."

THATS GOOD THAT HE CAN LEAVE IT BEHIND HIM. THAT IS
SEEING THAT IT WAS HIS OWN KARMA THAT HAD BARACK MAKE
THE ACTIONS THAT RESULTED IN MR HENDON NOT GETTING
WHAT HE WANTED. WHICH WAS PROBABLY FOR THE BEST
ANYWAY.

The politics of poker

In many ways, Obama's relations with fellow
legislators in Springfield
reflected his lifelong efforts to straddle different
worlds, a
political challenge that continues to this day.

While his dealings with some top black legislators
were icy, he often
seemed most comfortable among other Democrats. Obama
formed tight
friendships with three white Senate colleagues whose
backgrounds and
personalities couldn't have been more different from
his.

OK SO THE BLACK LEADERS WHO HAD ALL THEIR PEOPLE
CONTROLLED DIDN'T LIKE A SMART MANY LIKE BARACK SO
BARACK DIDN'T LET IT HURT HIM HE WENT AND FOUND NEW
FRIENDS.

There was the blunt-talking Denny Jacobs from the Quad
Cities, and
Larry Walsh from Elwood, whose "aw-shucks" demeanor
belied deft political
skills.

NOT SURE WHO THEYR ARE BUT I AM SURE BARACK DID AND
WAS BEING FRIENDLY AND TRYING TO SEE ALL SIDES OF
POLITICS IN HIS REGION.

Closest to Obama was Terry Link of Waukegan, who also
was Lake County
Democratic chairman. Both entered the Senate the same
year, sat next to
each other on the floor and shared office space. "We
were just polar
opposites," said Link. "He won easy, I had a difficult
race. He was
Harvard Law, and I was lucky to get out of high
school. He was backed by the
independents and here I was, a party leader."

OH SO ANOTHER MAN (NOT SURE OF HIS RACE) SOUNDS JELOUS
TOO OF BARACKS HARD WORK AND EDUCATION. MAKES YOU
WONDER WHO IS IN CHARGE OF CHICAGO POLITICS? ALL
PEOPLE WITH STREET SMARTS OR WHAT?

Link served as a conduit to party insiders, coaching
Obama to pay heed
to the agendas of organized labor and other old-line
Democratic
pressure groups.

WHICH I AM SURE BARACK WAS PROBABLY SICK TO HIS
STOMACH THINKING WHAT ARE THE LIKES OF THESE KIND OF
PEOPLE RUNNING THE REGION. I KNOW I WOULD BE.

Nowhere was Obama's ability to navigate Springfield's
subcultures on
better display than at The Committee Meeting. That was
the code name for
Wednesday night poker games attended by about a dozen
lawmakers and
lobbyists.

Obama was a regular, and his stingy betting became a
running joke with
those at the table.

I DISLIKE GAMBLING TOO. WOW BARACK IS SO MUCH LIKE ME.
A STINGY PERSON WHEN IT COMES TO HAVING TO GAMBLE JUST
TO GET TO KNOW THE OLD TIME POLITICIANS. SHEESH

"You're a socialist with everybody's money but your
own," Sen. Bill
Brady (R-Bloomington) complained to Obama.

NO BARACK JUST ISN'T INTO THROWING HIS MONEY AROUND..
VERY SMART. I AM AGAIN JUST LIKE HIM. THE MORE I READ
THIS WRITERS STORY THE MORE I LOVE BARACK OBAMA.

Some in the legislature treat their long interludes in
Springfield as a
form of camp, a chance to get away from family
obligations and party it
up. Obama wasn't one of them. An early riser, he was a
regular in the
exercise room of his downtown hotel. Sometimes he
showed up at the local
YMCA for a dawn pickup basketball game.

AGAIN A WONDERFUL THING TO DO. HE WASN'T LIKE THE REST
OF CHICAGO POLITICIANS WHO SIT AND GAMBLE AND TALK
ABOUT HOW THEY ARE GOING TO RUN THE CITY. HMMM INSTEAD
BARACK TAKES THE HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE WOW I AM
IMPRESSED! :)

An exception to his disciplined routine was the poker
game held inside
the headquarters of the Illinois Manufacturers
Association, the big
business lobby whose legislative goals often were at
odds with those of
liberals like Obama.

OK SO BARACK GAMBLED A FEW DOLLARS AND THEY WANTED HIM
TO BE A BIG GAMBLER DRINKING OLD TIME POLITICIAN. GEEZ
THOSE POOR CHICAGO PEOPLE WHO ENDED UP WITH THE LIKES
OF THEM. THEN AGAIN I AM HERE IN PHILADELPHIA WITH A
FEW OF THEM. I SURE HOPE MR NUTTER BECOMES A BARACK
OBAMA.

Handed a cigar and cocktail on the way in, players
left a few hundred
dollars richer or poorer. Obama played liked he
legislated, "slowly,
deliberately, cautiously," recalled Jacobs.

WELL DUH BARACK IS NO FOOL.

Poker was a way to relax and schmooze out of the
polarizing glare under
the Capitol dome. To Obama, it was also a chance to
prove to colleagues
that he was a regular guy.

POOR BARACK I BET HE WISHED HE HAD SOME BETTER
EDUCATED POLITICIANS TO SPEND HIS TIME. I SURE WOULD
IF I WERE HIM.

"When it turned out that I could sit down at [a bar]
and have a beer
and watch a game or go out for a round of golf or get
a poker game
going," Obama said, "I probably confounded some of
their expectations."

OH MY BARACK HAD "A' BEER. BUT THEN AGAIN HE PLAYED
GOLF TO WORK IT OFF. SMART MAN.

A legislative diplomat

In his first campaign, Obama lashed out at incumbent
pols who cut
backroom deals to consolidate their power rather than
advance the common
good. But once in the Springfield mosh pit, Obama
crafted an image as a
bridge-builder.

THATS THE BARACK I KNOW AND THE MAN I WANT AS
PRESIDENT.

"He's not dogmatic, he's consensus building," said
Jones. He also was
practical. With Republicans controlling the Senate
until 2003, fighting
them wouldn't accomplish much.

VERY SMART. VERY VERY SMART.

In 1999, Obama spoke so passionately in favor of
affirmative action
that a Republican colleague shelved a resolution aimed
at undermining the
practice at public universities.

SURE BARACK WANTS PEOPLE OF COLOR TO BE ABLE TO HAVE
EDUCATIONS NOT WELFARE. GOSH I LOVE THIS MAN BARACK
OBAMA. AND THIS ARTICLE THAT WAS SENT TO ME IS SUPOSE
TO MAKE BARACK LOOK BAD?????? OH WELL ..

He had less success with another goal that he now is
pushing in his
presidential run: universal health care. He once
proposed a state
constitutional amendment to mandate it. In another
echo of criticism Obama has
faced in his presidential campaign, the proposal
lacked detail. He
later watered down his idea to simply call for a task
force to study the
issue.

OK SO HE DIDN'T DO EVERYTHING HE WANTED TO DO IN
ILLINOIS. HE REALIZED HE BETTER GO TO WASH DC WHERE HE
HAD MORE POWER AND ABILITY TO DO IT. AND HE IS STILL
LISTENING AS HE ASK FOR INPUT FROM EVERY DAY CITIZENS
ON HIS WEB SITE AT WWW.BARACKOBAMA.COM

A critic of the state's broken capital punishment
system, Obama spent
two years working with Republicans to broker a series
of reforms aimed
at making it more difficult for the innocent to face
execution. Still,
Obama found himself on various sides of the death
penalty debate.

SURE NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THE INNOCENT PUT TO DEATH.
BRAVO BRAVO BARACK!

Five months into office, he voted to expand the list
of capital crimes
to include the brutal murder of a senior citizen or a
disabled person.
Four years later he opposed adding murders that were
part of "gang
activity" to the list, saying the term was a
"mechanism to target
particular neighborhoods [and] particular
individuals."


AGAIN BRAVO BRAVO BARACK FOR STICKING UP FOR THE
SENIOR CITIZENS AND DISABLED WHILE KNOWING THAT MANY
TIMES PEOPLE BORN IN BAD NEIGHBORHOODS NEVER HAD A
CHANCE TO KNOW THE RIGHT THING (PROBABLY BECAUSE MR
HENDON HAD THEM ALL ON WELFARE) AND THESE GANGS
MURDERERS NEVER KNEW RIGHT FROM WRONG. THEY DESERVED A
CHANCE IF THEY HADN'T KILLED A SENIOR OR A DISABLED
PERSON. AND MANY TIMES THEY WERE SET UP BY CROOKED
COPS IN THOSE AREAS RUN BY OLD TIME POLITICIANS. BRAVO
BRAVO BARACK OBAMA :) WOW YOU ARE THE MAN.

In 2003, with Democrats in control of the General
Assembly and Obama
readying his U.S. Senate run, he became a whirlwind of
legislative
activity. He secured passage of the nation's first law
to require police to
tape formal interviews and confessions of murder
suspects. He also won
passage of a law requiring police to record the race
of drivers they
stop for a study of racial profiling.

BRAVO BRAVO FOR LOOKING OUT FOR THE LESS FORTUNATE WHO
SUFFERED FOR MANY YRS UNDER LEADERS WHO KEPT THEM POOR
UNEDUCATED AND ON WELFARE.

The most awkward moment of Obama's legislative tenure
came in 1999.
Lawmakers in a special session considered restoring an
anti-gun violence
law struck down in court. The battle stalemated, and
Obama flew to
Hawaii for Christmas with his family.

Lawmakers were called back Dec. 29 to vote on a
compromise, but Obama
remained in Hawaii. The deal narrowly failed. Obama
later said his young
daughter had taken ill and he couldn't leave her, but
the incident
damaged his already-slim hopes of unseating Rush.

WELL AS WE WOULD ALL HOPE THAT OUR PARENTS WOULD LOOK
AFTER THEIR CHILDREN BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE BRAVO BRAVO
BRAVO. WHAT A FAMILY MAN :) :) :)

Legislators face an array of sensitive topics, but few
pack the
emotional and political wallop of abortion. Obama has
long publicly promoted
his support for abortion rights, but his voting record
in Springfield is
not simple to read.

Obama said he sought compromise with abortion
opponents, but they
balked. As a fallback, he said he worked out an
arrangement with
abortion-rights advocates to encourage Democrats to
vote "present" on some bills
if they feared a "no"would look insensitive and
endanger their
re-election.

WELL HE TRIED TO WORK WITH BOTH SIDES AND FOR THAT I
GIVE HIM THE UTMOST RESPECT. ABORTION IS A HARD TOPIC
AND MANY POLITICIANS WON'T EVEN TRY TO REACH OUT
ACROSS THE TABLE. BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO AND SO SENSATIVE
TOO .. WOW HE VOTED PRESENT TO BE CONSIDERATE OF THEIR
FEELINGS WOW I AM IN AWE WHAT A SWEET WONDERFUL MAN WE
HAVE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT.

But few of the other Democrats who voted "present" on
abortion bills
recall such a strategy. And, like Obama, they weren't
politically
vulnerable.

SO BARACK WAS ABLE TO TALK THOSE POLITICIANS INTO
BEING SENSATIVE TOO WOW BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO BARACK

Obama's friend Link offered another reason for the
strategy: to protect
those with plans for higher office. A "present" vote
helped "if you
have aspirations of doing something else in politics,"
Link said, "and I
think [Obama] looked at it in that regard."

WELL OF COURSE MY LINK IS OF THE "OLD SCHOOL'
POLITICIANS.. EVERYTHING HE THINKS HAS TO HAVE AN
ULTERIOR MOTIVE TO IT I BET. SHAME SHAME SHAME ON
LINK.

Illinois has a rich legacy of government scandal, and
Obama's campaign
resume plays up his role in trying to do something to
stop it. Jones
early on tapped him as the Senate Democratic point man
on ethics reform,
an unenviable task for a rookie lawmaker given that
Springfield
veterans were reluctant to embrace change and dispense
with perks. Many
resented him.

THANK GOD AND THANK CHICAGO ER CHICAGO SHOULD THANK
GOD FOR BARACK OBAMA.

Trotter said Obama swooped in "as the knight on the
white horse" and
made it sound as though everybody in Springfield,
except him, was
corrupt. "It wasn't appreciated."

HE MAY BE BLACK BUT HE IS MY KNIGHT ON A WHITE HORSE
ER BLACK HORSE THEY ARE BOTH PRETTY COLORED HORSES AND
WELL I REMEMBER BLACK BEAUTY :) SO BARACK LETS MAKE
THAT YOUR MY NIGHT ON A SHINNING BLACK HORSE :)

The ethics bill, Obama said, "was not a favorite of my
colleagues."

SURE THEY HAD THEIR OLD SCHOOL WAYS.. I BET THEY HATED
BARACK FOR THAT ROFLMAO

Obama also was in the thick of negotiations on a 2003
ethics package
that led to restrictions on gifts from lobbyists and
the appointment of
new inspectors general to hunt corruption in a variety
of state
agencies.

It also banned lawmakers from sending taxpayer-funded
promotional
mailings in the weeks before an election, an attempt
to clamp down on an
all-too-common practice that critics said was
tantamount to having the
state help bankroll incumbents' campaigns.

Obama wasn't big on sending newsletters to
constituents. In his first
seven years in the Senate, he did it only twice. But
in early 2004, as
he was gearing up for his U.S. Senate run, Obama
ordered his largest
newsletter mailing -- 75,000 copies.


YEA I DOUBT IT WAS BARACK WHO DID IT. PROBABLY WAS THE
OLD TIME POLITICIANS WHO PERSUADED HIS SECRETARY TO DO
IT TO MAKE BARACK LOOK BAD. AND IF BARACK DID IT WELL
HE HADN'T DONE IT AS IS REPORTED HERE FOR A FEW YRS.
SO HE DESERVED ONE MAILING.

Records show they hit the post office Jan. 30, two
days before the ban
Obama helped write was to take effect.

Obama said the impact was "nominal" because the
mailings only went to
voters in his state legislative district. "We abided
by the rules," he
said.

I AM SURE YOU DID EVERYTHING LEGAL AND THIS WRITER IS
MAKING A WARM POT HOT ER HE IS BLOWING SMOKE ER HE IS
TRYING TO PULL EVERYONES LEG HERE BUT HE IS SO CORUPT
HIMSELF HE DOESN'T EVEN SEE HOW HOW THIS ARTICLE MAKES
YOU LOOK EVEN BETTER BARACK.

'You're a very powerful guy'

Long before maverick Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald
decided not to
run for re-election in 2004, Obama approached his
mentor, Emil Jones, who
was preparing to lead a new Democratic majority in the
state Senate.

"You're a very powerful guy," Obama told Jones.

"I've got the power to do what?" Jones responded.

"You could help elect a U.S. senator," Obama said.

Jones asked his protege if he had anyone in mind.

"Yeah," Obama replied. "Me."

Obama's ambitions for higher office were an open
secret in Springfield,
but trying to make the leap to the U.S. Senate seemed
a long shot. He
was an unknown to most Chicago voters, let alone to
those in the rest of
the state. His loss to Rush was so lopsided even Obama
described it as
"a spanking."

He couldn't count on the support of some prominent
Black Caucus
members, including Hendon. In a recent interview, he
said Obama was so
ambitious that if the position were up for a vote,
Obama would run for "king
of the world."

LOL WOW IS HENDON JELOUS LOL LOL LOL

Obama formally announced his campaign in January 2003,
more than a year
ahead of the primary. Jones, of course, was there.
Link, Walsh and
Jacobs also attended, illustrating that his support
transcended the black
community.

Hendon and Trotter were a tougher sell. Jones
eventually got them to
endorse Obama. Hendon said it took "seven or eight"
talks with Jones
before he finally decided to go along. And, Hendon
said, he only did it out
of loyalty to Jones.

Obama wasn't expecting the endorsement of either
Trotter or Hendon. He
asked Jones how he pulled it off.

"I made them an offer," Jones recalled telling Obama.
"And you don't
want to know."

I AM SURE SHE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG AS SHE SOUNDS
LIKE THE SMARTEST MOST UNDERSTANDING FRIEND YOU HAD IN
CHICAGO POLITICS. THE REST SOUND LIKE A BUNCH OF
HOLIGANS. BLESS YOU MISS JONES. :)

Tribune staff reporters Bob Secter and Monique Garcia
contributed to
this report.
WELL YOU TWO JUST MADE THE BIGGEST BLUNDER IN YOUR
LIVES AS SUPPORTING REPORTERS TO A STORY WRITTEN SO AS
TO TRY TO DISCREDIT BARACK OBAMA WHILE A SIMPLE
VIETNAM VETERAN LIVING ON DISABILITY CAN SEE HOW
WONDERFUL BARACK OBAMA IS IN THIS STORY.

RICK PETERSON AND RAY LONG SURELY ARE THE BIGGEST
GOOFBALLS IN WRITING HISTORY.
----------

rap30@aol.com

rlong@tribune.com

- - -

IN THE WEB EDITION


- Listen to Barack Obama debate issues ranging from
gun control to
abortion on the floor of the Illinois Senate at
chicagotribune.com/obama
audio

- Read the series at chicagotribune.com/obama
Copyright (c) 2007, Chicago Tribune


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