The Washington Post reported on a figure who it says the Democrats are taking notice. He held his audience with his ability to communicate with a degree of self-deprecating humour. At one meeting he noticed Dionne Warwick in the audience and immediately responded with the first line of “Walk on By” perfectly in tune.
Barack Obama is a Senator from Illinois; born in Honolulu, Hawaii, August 4, 1961; obtained early education in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Hawaii; continued education at Occidental College, Los Angeles, Calif., and Columbia University, New York City; studied law at Harvard University, where he became the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review, and received J.D. in 1992; lecturer on constitutional law, University of Chicago; member, Illinois State senate 1997-2004; elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2004 for term beginning January 3, 2005. Source.

Barack Obama website
BBC comment 2004