Obama becomes rising star among Democrats

In 1996 Obama launches his political career and runs for state senator for the south side district of Hyde Park. His extensive grass roots connections prove invaluable and he's voted in by a sizeable majority. But some of his Democratic opponents claim he's won by playing hardball by going to court to challenge the signatures of supporters they need to enter the primary.

DAVID MENDELL, OBAMA BIOGRAPHER: It did ruffle some feathers among established Democrats in Chicago.

These are standard tactics in the rough and tumble of Chicago politics but some observers think it shows just how impatient Obama is to move up the political ladder.

MENDELL: You know, he's 175 pounds of ambition, there's no doubt about that.

And that ambition will make Obama a force to reckon with on the national stage within a few years.

It's January 1997.  After winning a cut-throat campaign for the Illinois state senate, 35 year-old Barack Obama is sworn in.  In Springfield, the state capital, his political life takes flight.

But the freshman senator is about to hit some turbulence.

MENDELL: He certainly engendered some jealousies among his colleagues, particularly some of his African-American colleagues, who thought, "Who is this guy from Harvard who's dropping in here and thinks he's just all that?"

Obama turns to Senate Minority Leader, Emil Jones, a powerful figure and a friend, from his days as a community organizer on Chicago’s south side.

JONES: He suggested to me, give him any tough assignments, and he would work hard in trying to be, see to it that those assignments were done properly.

But getting these challenging assignments from his mentor only increases the tension between Obama and some of his more experienced senate colleagues.

JONES: At times, I felt sorry for him. He's making the presentation, and members are jumping off and beating him, "What you heck do you know what the heck you're doing?  You just got here," and all that type stuff.  But he prevailed.

In time, Obama makes many political friends and allies, black and white, Republican and Democrat. He becomes known for bridging the political divide to push through a wide array of legislation.

But mostly, the Harvard Law School grad focuses on his less fortunate constituents, helping to deliver tax credits for low-income workers, welfare reforms, increased child care subsidies, and death penalty reform.

Another place Obama becomes known for building bridges: the weekly "special committee meeting."

That would be code for "the Wednesday night poker game."

MENDELL: When you're playing poker and you're drinking beer with your fellow legislators,  you're going to develop a personal connection that can carry over into passing legislation.

In 1999, Obama and his wife welcome their first child, a daughter named Malia.  Another daughter, Natasha, follows two years later.

LINK: He became a very proud father. He was excited. The pictures were proudly displayed in his office.

Obama is serving his second term in the state Senate, but it's clear to those who know him that he doesn't intend to stick around Springfield for long.

After only three years in state politics, he decides it's time to try and move on to Washington.

OBAMA: We can't afford to wait another 7 years.

In 2000, he takes on a popular incumbent named Bobby Rush in the Democratic Congressional primary. He loses. Badly.

MENDELL: He was a little bit too intellectual in his speeches. And I think he learned that politics is more about connecting with people than showing them how smart you are.

LINK: There was a number of us that had said to him that maybe this wasn't the right idea.  And we were playin' cards that night and nobody really wanted to say anything.  And Barack just looked up, and he says, "All right.  I know you all want to say it.  Don't say it. And it's over."  And we all laughed, and that was the end of it.

Joking aside, Obama is so deflated, he considers dropping out of politics altogether. It only gets worse after the attacks of Sept. 11.

Obama is already at a political low point.  It doesn't help that his name sounds an awful lot like: "Osama bin Laden."

JONES, JR.: I heard comments by certain members when the name Osama and everything, some members even called him that and everything, which I resented them doing that to him based on his name.

GEORGE W. BUSH: The United States military has begun strikes against al-Qaida terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

At first, Obama, like much of the country, rallies behind the bush administration's move to take out the Taliban.

But a year later, when it becomes clear the priority has shifted to Iraq, Obama is passionately opposed and politically re-energized.

OBAMA: What I do oppose is a dumb war. What I do oppose is a rash war.

DONZIGER: You know, the march into a war, an unnecessary war, when almost the entire country, you know, is behind it. I mean, you have to have guts to do that.

At 41, Barack Obama is aching more than ever to run for national office.

When Illinois Senator Peter Fitzgerald announces he's vacating his seat in April 2003, Obama jumps on the opportunity.

OBAMA: I will be a candidate for the United States Senate in 2004.

LINK: I remember I walked into his office.  And he said, "I got something to ask ya."  And I says, "What's that?"  And he said, "I'm thinking of runnin' for U.S. Senate.  Would you support me?"  And I said, "Yes."  And he looked at me in a puzzled look, and he said, "Don't you have to think about it for a while?" And I said, "No."  I said, "Now you're ready.  And it's the right race.”

But before Obama can win the general election, he's got to win a tough primary. His opponents are formidable.

MENDELL: As these two white candidates, at the top of the ticket, were kind of duking it out over the white vote, he just races right by these two at the end. They were like the two horses in front, butting heads against one another.  And Obama just — raced right by them.

On primary day in March 2004, a stunning victory.

OBAMA:  ...we get this seat for the Democrats in November.

And the Democratic party's top guns suddenly start to take notice.

RICHARD WOLFFE, NEWSWEEK: Everyone wanted to talk to him. There was a lot of national attention for a guy who wasn't even a U.S. Senator at that point.

CRAIG CRAWFORD, CQPOLITICS.COM: Winning can put you on the radar.  And Obama all of a sudden was winning when he wasn't supposed to. And a lot of Democrats, who have been watching it from a distance wanted to size this guy up, find out who he is, what he's all about.  Is he going to, you know, keep challenging us all the way to the top?

Obama hasn't even won the U.S. Senate seat when he receives an invitation he wouldn't have dreamt of even a few weeks before. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry asks him to deliver the keynote address at the 2004 democratic national convention. With one speech, Barack Obama is about to become a household name.

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