ARACK OBAMA is the junior U.S. Senator from Illinois. He began his career as a community organizer in some of Chicago’s poorest communities and then attended Harvard Law School, where he was elected the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. In 1992, he directed Illinois Project VOTE, which registered 150,000 new voters. From 1997 to 2004, he served as a three-term state senator from Chicago’s South Side. In addition to his legislative duties, he has been a senior lecturer in constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School, practiced civil rights law, and served on the board of directors of various charitable organizations.

Senator Obama lives in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood with his wife, Michelle, and daughters, Malia and Sasha.