Obama stories from Feb. 11, 2007 - July 1, 2007

CAMPAIGN 2008: ANALYSIS

Obama team can play rough

Despite often lofty rhetoric that he plans to bring the nation a "new kind of politics," Sen. Barack Obama has surrounded himself with operatives skilled in the old-school art of the political backstab.

BARACK OBAMA: PART 8

Carefully crafting the Barack Obama 'brand'

One evening in February 2005, in a four-hour meeting stoked by pepperoni pizza and grand ambition, Sen. Barack Obama and his senior advisers crafted a strategy to fit the Obama "brand."

PART 8 SIDEBAR

Critics: Obama endorsements counter calls for clean government

There was little controversy earlier this year when Sen. Barack Obama endorsed Mayor Richard Daley over two black opponents for a sixth term, lending his star power to an inevitable rout.

NATION

'Fun things' on campaign trail

As their rented RV rumbled across wooded northern New Hampshire this weekend, Sen. Barack Obama's two daughters searched for something distinctly different from the voters their father sought.

Obama calls for universal health care

Sen. Barack Obama today proposed a plan that would provide access to health insurance for all Americans by lowering costs, improving technology and rolling back tax cuts for some.

NATION

Chicago event expected to raise at least $1.5 million for Obama

Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is planning what could be the largest fundraiser of his presidential bid so far, a big-dollar event in Chicago that is expected to raise at least $1.5 million in a single evening.

NATION

Disclosures suggest a millionaires' club

The poor man among the top tier of presidential candidates is Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who scraped by last year on an income of just under $1 million.

TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE

Her money is on Obama. His? Clinton.

As sister and brother, Penny Pritzker and Jay Robert "J.B." Pritzker have fought over everything from toys to how to divide a family fortune worth billions.

Obama: President needs judgment with toughness

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama mocked President Bush for constantly "talking tough" as the Illinois senator spoke about judgment in a crisis during a television interview aired Sunday.

NATION

For Obama, charity really began in the U.S. Senate

Giving, service and compassion are recurrent themes on the campaign trail for Sen. Barack Obama, but the Democratic presidential contender has only recently dug deep into his own pockets to support charitable causes.

Tornado blooper: Obama twists his words

RICHMOND, Va. -- Barack Obama, caught up in the fervor of a campaign speech Tuesday, drastically overstated the Kansas tornadoes death toll, saying 10,000 had died. The death toll was 12.

NATION

Clinton courts Obama base

Looking for gains from a core constituency of Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton met with a group of African-American ministers Monday and said she was not conceding the black vote to her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination.

NATION

Obama: Make cars more fuel-efficient

In a frontal assault on the automobile industry, Sen. Barack Obama's call Monday for tougher fuel-economy standards and new financial incentives for hybrid cars would force a retooling of the way autos are built -- triggering a sometimes tepid response from business leaders in the Motor City.

NATION

Obama: Bush veto not 'last word' on war

Signaling that he would not abandon efforts in Congress to place a timeline on ending the war in Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama said Saturday that he and other Democrats would continue pressing the issue until President Bush is forced to accept it.

BARACK OBAMA: PART 7

Barack Obama: Careful steps, looking ahead

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."

PART 7 SIDEBAR

State pork to Obama's district included allies, donors

Barack Obama has expressed pride in his ability to bring home old-fashioned pork.

NATION

Ford: Obama can win in South

Before Sen. Barack Obama was the rising star of the Democratic Party, there was Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee.

MAKING OF A CANDIDATE

HisSpace: Obama seizes backer's site

The rapidly emerging tension between the unruly world of online politics and the highly controlled machinery of a presidential campaign was made vivid in a bitter struggle that erupted this week for control of a MySpace page listed under the name Barack Obama.

NATION

Obama: Racial ills haven't healed

Invoking images of Los Angeles in flames, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama argued Sunday -- the 15th anniversary of the nation's most violent modern civil uprising -- that little has been done to fix the social and economic conditions that gave rise to a three-day rampage that killed at least 53 people.

2008 hopefuls get personal

If the presidential candidates were living the life of their idle dreams, Rudolph Giuliani would be chattering in the announcer's booth at Yankee Stadium while Bill Richardson plays center field.

Democrats face off in 1st debate

The leading Democratic candidates for president, attempting to project strength on national security while condemning the war in Iraq, portrayed themselves as resolute in the fight against terrorism Thursday night during the first in a series of televised debates.

BARACK OBAMA

Obama still answers for old ties to Rezko

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama said Monday he never received complaints about poor living conditions from residents of deteriorated properties owned by one of his early and prominent political supporters, Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

NATION

Obama hits Bush on foreign policies

Sen. Barack Obama accused President Bush on Monday of weakening America's global leadership with a "squandered" response to terrorism as the Democratic presidential candidate committed himself to repair relations with allies and the nation's standing around the world.

Obama focuses on environment

IOWA CITY -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama took his campaign to Iowa's largest university campus Sunday to pitch tougher environmental policies and an anti-war message before thousands gathered on Earth Day.

Barack's rock

The featured speaker at a luncheon, Michelle Obama is about to ask a crowd of influential Chicago women to commit their hearts and wallets to her husband's presidential campaign.

Online support is nice, but big money donors still rule

Highly publicized online fundraising efforts have not fundamentally altered the dependence on big-money donors for those trying to win the White House.

Obamas release tax returns

Barack Obama's income took a big nosedive last year, but nobody's going to be holding a bake sale for the Democratic presidential contender.

Obama leads field in fundraising

Sen. Barack Obama raised more money from donors for his presidential primary campaign than any other candidate during the first three months of the year, but Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton maintained a financial advantage by transferring money left from her Senate re-election campaign last year.

BARACK OBAMA: PART 5

Building Barack Obama's money machine

Sen. Barack Obama tapped everyone from small Internet donors to Hollywood stars and industry titans to raise a towering $25 million in the first three months of this year.

NATION

Mythical trip started with an error

There's a story pinging around the Internet about how Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) paid a visit to Libya in 1984 and met with Louis Farrakhan, the Chicago-based Nation of Islam leader whose anti-Semitic remarks have long inflamed relations between blacks and Jews.

Obama fundraising shakes up Dems' race

Sen. Barack Obama's announcement Wednesday that he has raised nearly as much money as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton this year, bringing in $25 million for his presidential bid from a wide array of contributors, shakes up the race and makes it clear no Democrat will enjoy the early dominance the former first lady had been trying to establish.

Obama prods voters on health care

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Tuesday turned to both the durable tradition of the New England town meeting and the 21st Century technology of the Internet to highlight a campaign promise of health-care coverage for all Americans.

BARACK OBAMA: PART 3

Barack Obama: Portrait of a pragmatist

Barack Obama packed his few belongings into his newly purchased but creaky old Honda and headed west from New York into a political and social battle zone.

PART 3 SIDEBAR

Activism blossomed in college

Barack Obama's interest in political activism took root at Occidental College, a small liberal arts institution in this city's hilly Eagle Rock section.

For campaigns, a crucial test

Twelve years ago, a Texas senator named Phil Gramm rocked the political world when he reported that he had raised a then-stunning $13.4 million by the end of the first quarter of the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

'08 hopefuls dash for cash

It may be the start of spring break here, but it is more like finals week for Sen. Barack Obama and other presidential candidates.

The not-so-simple story of Barack Obama's youth

The life stories, when the presidential candidate tells them, have a common theme: the quest to belong.

PART 1 SIDEBAR

History of schooling distorted

When Barack Obama was a boy here, he studied for three years at a religious school and prayed four times a day.

PART 1 SIDEBAR

The troublesome return of a long-lost classmate

In the introduction to his 1995 memoir, "Dreams from My Father," U.S. Sen. Barack Obama noted that except for his family and several public figures, he had changed the names of most of the people in the book "for the sake of their privacy."

Stumble over gay issue dogs Obama

Chicago lawyer Coco Soodek has given $2,300 to Sen. Barack Obama's presidential primary campaign, the most allowed under federal law. But in recent days, she has questioned her contribution, just as she has questioned the candidate's commitment to gays and lesbians.

Web video maker unmasked

The creator of a widely circulated Web video portraying Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton as an Orwellian Big Brother was identified Wednesday as an employee of an Internet consulting firm that works for one of her opponents, Sen. Barack Obama.

Iowa's lost that cozy feeling

The gym was filled to fire-marshal capacity, the crowd cheering wildly at times, and the candidate stuck around to shake hands, sign books and pose for pictures. By almost any measure, it was a remarkably well-staged event, particularly for so early in the campaign season.

TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION

Connected investor recalls Obama's campaign pitch

Former stock trader Andrew Davis recalls meeting Barack Obama by chance on LaSalle Street about four years ago.

ACROSS THE NATION

Debate canceled due to remark on Obama

The Nevada Democratic Party has canceled an August debate that was to be co-hosted by Fox News Channel, citing comments by the network's president rather than an online protest launched by activists and bloggers who believe the channel is biased.

ANALYSIS

Questions stalk Obama's portfolio

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama began the news conference with a promise to "stick around" to answer reporters' questions about $100,000 he invested in two companies backed by some of his top donors.

Obama says he was unaware of stocks in trust fund

Sen. Barack Obama said Wednesday that he was unaware until this week that he once held stock in two companies owned by political contributors, but that he never took any actions in the Senate or elsewhere to further their business interests before ending his brief foray into high-risk investing.

Obama bought speculative stocks favored by donors

Less than two months after ascending to the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama bought more than $50,000 worth of stock in two speculative companies whose major investors included some of his biggest political donors.

Report: Obama's kin owned slaves

Many people know that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's father was from Kenya and his mother from Kansas.

Rezko sells lot next to Obama

A land sale recorded this month ended the neighborly relationship between U.S. Sen. Barack Obama and indicted political insider Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Obama's friend and former fundraiser.

Obama may have funding options

Responding to his request for clarification, the Federal Election Commission signaled Thursday that Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign may be able to solicit private contributions for the 2008 general election while remaining eligible for public financing for that same contest.

Clinton, Obama, come out swinging

One day after Sen. Barack Obama made a glittery statement with a Hollywood fundraiser that brought in an impressive $1.3 million, the top two Democratic presidential contenders went after each other in the first big food fight of the 2008 presidential election.

Hollywood: Democrats' land of plenty

In Hollywood, it's never too early to be famous.

Obama to help mark '65 march

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will deliver the keynote address March 4 at the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee that commemorates the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march, organizers said Tuesday.

South Carolina meets Obama

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama roused a crowd of black and white voters in South Carolina on Friday with a vision of breaking the race barrier to the White House.

`Blacks will determine the winner'

As an African-American, Dean Stewart is proud that a black man has a good shot at becoming the next president of the United States.

Political Web sites get personal

Sen. Barack Obama's newly revamped Web site looks a lot like MySpace and Facebook, and that is no accident.

ACROSS THE NATION

Governor reportedly to back Obama bid

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine will endorse Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, perhaps as early as the weekend, two officials said Wednesday.

Protesters disrupt Obama rally

A homecoming for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) turned into an anti-war rally Sunday evening, as he returned to his home city following the weekend launch of his candidacy for president to find a crowd of 7,300 troubled over the Iraq war.