Barack Obama

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. (born in Nyanza Province, Kenya) and Ann Dunham (born in Wichita, Kansas). Barack Hussein Obama (born August 4, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party.

Obama grew up in culturally diverse surroundings. He spent most of his childhood in the majority-minority U.S. state of Hawaii and lived for four years in Indonesia. Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention while still an Illinois state legislator. Since announcing his candidacy in February 2007, Obama has emphasized ending the Iraq War and implementing universal health care as campaign themes.

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, Obama co-sponsored the enactment of conventional weapons control and transparency legislation, and made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Obama's parents separated when he was two years old and later divorced. His father went to Harvard University to pursue Ph.D. studies, then returned to Kenya, where he died in an auto accident when the younger Obama was twenty-one years old.

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News Alert 7:04 p.m. ET Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Live Video: Watch the Second Presidential Debate
Starting at 9 p.m. ET, watch the presidential debate between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama live at http://www.washingtonpost.com. Then, visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/debates tomorrow morning to watch the full debate, use an annotated transcript to analyze each exchange, vote on which candidate won each question and join a discussion with other armchair pundits.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com