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The trip’s Kenya segment merged policy and personal elements. Obama flew his wife and two daughters from Chicago to join him in a visit to his father’s birthplace, the village of Nyangoma-Kogelo, Siaya District, located near Kisumu in Kenya’s rural west. Newspapers reported enthusiastic crowds at Obama’s public appearances.[55] In a public gesture aimed to capitalize on his celebrity and encourage more Kenyans to undergo voluntary HIV testing, Obama and his wife took HIV tests at a Kenyan clinic.[56]

In a nationally televised speech to students and faculty at the University of Nairobi, Obama spoke forcefully on the influence of ethnic rivalries in Kenyan politics: "Ethnic-based politics has to stop. It is rooted in the bankrupt ideology that the goal of politics is to pile as much as possible to one’s family, tribe or friends. It fractures the fabric of society", Obama stated.[57] The speech touched off a public debate among rival leaders, some formally challenging Obama’s remarks as unfair and improper, others defending his positions.[58][59]

Political advocacy

Speaking before the National Press Club in April 2005, Obama defended the New Deal social welfare policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, associating Republican proposals to establish private accounts for Social Security with Social Darwinist thinking.[60]

Also in 2005, in a move more typically taken after several years of holding high political office, Obama established his own leadership political action committee devoted to channeling financial support for Democratic candidates. He has become an effective Democratic fundraiser and much sought after ally. According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times, Obama participated in 38 fundraising events in 2005, helping to pull in $6.55 million for political issues and candidates he supports.[61]

Obama is among the first national politicians to actively engage the public through new Internet communication tools. In late 2005, he began podcasting from his U.S. Senate official web site. It has been reported that Obama responds to and has personally participated in online discussions hosted on politically-oriented blogosphere sites.[62]

In May 2006, Obama campaigned to maintain a $0.54 per gallon tariff on imported ethanol. Obama justified the tariff by joining Senator Durbin in stating that "ethanol imports are neither necessary nor a practical response to current gasoline prices," arguing instead that domestic ethanol production is sufficient and expanding.[63]

In June 2006, Obama campaigned against making recent, temporary estate tax cuts permanent, calling the cuts a "Paris Hilton" tax break for "billionaire heirs and heiresses".[64]

Also in June 2006, Obama worked to broaden his party’s political base, encouraging Democrats to reach out to evangelicals and other church-going people, saying, "if we truly hope to speak to people where they’re at – to communicate our hopes and values in a way that’s relevant to their own – we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse."[65]

Hill Monitor, a nonpartisan vote tracking group, ranked Obama fourth in frequency of voting with the majority of his party during the 109th Congress, as of September 2006. Obama’s rank follows Democratic Party Senators Mikulski (D-MD), Sarbanes (D-MD), and Durbin (D-IL).[66]

On October 31, 2006, the New York Times described Obama as "the prize catch of the midterm campaign" because of his campaigning for fellow Democratic Party members running for election in the 2006 midterms.[67] At an October 2006 campaign rally for Phil Angelides, Democratic Party nominee for Governor of California, Obama criticized the Bush administration "for the war in Iraq, a broken health care system, and a failure to recognize the threat of global warming," according to a news report published in the San Francisco Chronicle.[68] Obama has also campaigned in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Tennessee for candidates such as Jim Doyle, Amy Klobuchar, Tim Walz, and Harold Ford, Jr., among other states and candidates.[67] Obama’s political action committee has given $374,000 to federal candidates in the 2006 election cycle, making it one of the top donors to federal candidates for the year.[67]

On November 15, 2006, Barack Obama and John Edwards and teaming up with the watchdog group, Wake Up Wal-Mart, to take part in a conference call scheduled for 7PM EST, on November 15, 2006. The two candidates are hoping to persuade the world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart in providing better wages, and more affordable health care options to its employees.[69]

Presidential ambitions

TIME magazine cover story, October 23, 2006Obama’s keynote speech to the 2004 Democratic National Convention sparked expectations that he would eventually run for U.S. President.[70] Speculation on a 2008 presidential run intensified after Obama’s decisive U.S. Senate election win in November 2004, prompting him to tell reporters: "I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years".[71] Asked again in a January 2006 television appearance on Meet the Press, Obama repeated his intention to finish his Senate term.[72] However, in an October 2006 interview on the same television program, Obama appeared to open the possibility of a 2008 presidential bid:

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