Obama becomes rising star among Democrats

It's summer, 2004. Democrats convene in Boston to officially nominate senators John Kerry and John Edwards to challenge George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the November election.

Delegates hear from the biggest names in the party: Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Al Gore.

But there's building anticipation about a younger, less familiar Democrat from Illinois who is set to deliver the keynote speech.

LINK: He starts out his speech a little bit slow.

OBAMA: On behalf of the great state of Illinois....

LINK: and then he gets into bein' Barack. 

OBAMA: The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.

LINK: Then the audience gets into it.  

OBAMA: Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope!

LINK: It's getting' stronger, and stronger.

OBAMA: This country will reclaim its promise, and out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come. Thank you everybody. God bless.

LINK: Tears were rolling down my eyes.

JONES, JR.: We were all crying.  We felt so good.  Barack had told us before, he said, "Don't worry, I'll do all you guys proud," and everything.  And he did.

MENDELL: Here comes this guy who nobody had heard of, but had a lot of buzz around him. And he hit the ball out of the park.

Obama returns home, confidant and more determined than ever to win a seat in the U.S. senate. His republican opponent, former investment banker Jack Ryan, withdraws from the race, his campaign derailed by a sex scandal.

The Republican party is scrambling to find a candidate, even offering the job to legendary Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka.

MENDELL: The Republican Party here in Illinois was just in a shambles at this point.  And they couldn't find a candidate to run against this great new hope of the Democrats.  They thought, "Gee, we really need to put somebody in there and muddy him up a little bit in this race.

That August, with only three months to the election, radio talk show host and former presidential candidate Alan Keyes moves to Illinois to replace Ryan on the ticket.  The race is short, but contentious. Keyes accuses Obama of "breathtaking naïveté" for criticizing the Bush administration over the war in Iraq. He also goes after Obama for his position on abortion.

ALAN KEYES, FORMER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, 1996 & 2000: Christ would not vote for Barack Obama because Barack Obama has voted to behave in a way that it is inconceivable for Christ to have behaved.

JONES, JR.: Barack just stayed above the fray.  And ran a more positive campaign based on the issues.

Obama wins by a landslide, racking up 70 percent of the vote, the largest electoral victory in Illinois history.

On Jan. 4, 2005, with his wife Michelle and their daughters by his side, Obama becomes only the third African-American elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.

JACKSON: Dare I say again this is a guy with a hole in his shoe, whose car barely ran, who's just full of ideas. This was just a most excellent adventure.

Once in Washington, Obama sets out to make his mark, but as a freshman senator and with the Republicans in control, his impact is limited.

CRAWFORD: Obama is viewed by other senators as an outside player — someone who has a real ability to captivate the media, but inside the back rooms of the Senate, was not much of a factor.

WOLFFE: I think he found that pretty frustrating that he could do a whole lot more in Illinois than he could do in Washington.

But outside the senate chamber, Obama is increasingly seen as a passionate advocate for the less fortunate, people like the residents of the Gulf Coast reeling from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina.

OBAMA: Let New Orleans become the example of what American can do when we come together, not a symbol for what we can't do, or won't do.

Obama's work also extends beyond America's borders.

Traveling to Kuwait, Israel and in 2006 to promote HIV and AIDS prevention, a bittersweet trip to Kenya, where his father grew up and where his grandmother still lives.

CRAWFORD: Obama's journey with his own personal background and his willingness to address it directly presents one of the most unique opportunities for Americans to elect a president who could deal with a region that most presidents, let's face it, have almost ignored.

In just two years, Obama is a major player on the national stage.

Leading up to the midterm elections in 2006, Obama criss-crosses the country, campaigning for Democratic candidates. 

While raising funds and stumping for others, Obama takes the opportunity to constantly criticize the Bush administration.  A growing number of Washington insiders start to think Obama looks more like a presidential candidate than a junior senator from Illinois.

Despite the hype, on "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert, Obama pledges to remain in the Senate.

OBAMA: I will serve out my full six-year term.

But just months later, Obama starts to publicly toy with the idea of a White House run.

OBAMA: I have thought about the possibility.

After the election of 2006, the Democrats take control of both the House and Senate for the first time in a dozen years.

WOLFFE: With Democrats taking control, he actually got things moving in terms of the ethics reform a signature moment for him.

The country seems poised for a change and the idea of an Obama presidential run in 2008 is gaining momentum.

While promoting his second book, "The Audacity of Hope," Barack Obama finds himself in a highly coveted place— the cover story of Time Magazine.

CRAWFORD: One of the things that magazine cover probably did is send a message to a lot of African-American voters around the country who were concerned that he wasn't a truly electable African-American candidate.

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