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Obama with his father in an undated file photo.

Obama in an undated file photo.

Obama poses with his maternal grandmother Madelyn Dunham in an undated family snapshot.

Barack Obama stands with his wife Michelle and their daughters Malia (2nd R) and Sasha as they face supporters at his election night rally after being declared the winner of the election in Chicago, on Tuesday. SD-Agencies

U.S. president-elect Barack Obama was born Aug. 14, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a Kenyan father and a white mother from the American heartland.

However, his father left the home only two years later to begin earning a graduate degree in Harvard and later took a job with the Kenyan government. Obama only met with his father again once at age 10.

Obama's mother remarried an Indonesian oil executive when he was six. The whole family moved back to the southeastern Asian country. He eventually returned to Hawaii for high school and stayed with his grandparents.

Madelyn Dunham, 86, Obama's grandmother, whose personality and bearing shaped much of his life, died of cancer Nov. 2 at her home in Honolulu, on the eve of an election in which her grandson was elected the country's first black president.

After graduating from Columbia University in 1983, Obama was "possessed with a crazy idea -- that I would work at a grassroots level to bring about change," he said.

He moved from New York to Chicago, Illinois, in 1985 and worked as a community organizer in a poor African-American area for three years. During that time he realized that involvement at a higher level was needed to bring true improvement to such communities.

Obama attended Harvard Law School and was elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, he returned to Chicago where he practiced civil rights law and taught Constitutional law at the University of Chicago.

Obama decided to make his first run for public office in 1996 and won a seat in the Illinois state senate. Four years later, he unsuccessfully sought a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 2004, Obama beat all other six Democratic rivals to win the the congressional election. His remarkable oratory skills also impressed the party's presidential candidate, John Kerry, who named him the key note speaker at the party's national convention, where Obama, for the first time, stepped on the national political stage. In November, he overwhelmingly captured 70 percent of popular votes in the congressional elections and became a senator.

In the U.S. Senate, Obama's voting record coincides with those of the Democratic Party's liberal wing. He criticized the Iraq war from the beginning and worked on congressional ethical standards as well as ways to increase use of renewable fuels. He also built his reputation as a new breed of politician by working outside of party and racial divides.

Obama announced his bid for the White House on Feb. 10, 2007, in Springfield, Illinois, where former President Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech in 1858.

He joined seven other politicians in the Democratic camp, including former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. In the first half of 2007, he raised US$58 million in campaign contributions, setting the record for fundraising by a presidential campaign in the first six months of the calendar year before the elections, although he trailed Clinton in national polls in 2007.

However, Obama was highly successful at enlisting supporters, especially among youth, minorities and those with higher education. He mapped a strategy to campaign not only in primary states but also caucus states. In the first caucuses held in Iowa Jan. 3, 2008, he scored a surprising victory.

After Super Tuesday on Feb. 5, Obama tied Clinton in delegates. With victories in 10 more consecutive contests in the rest of February, he surpassed the New York senator to become the most likely nominee. Finally, on June 3, he clinched the Democratic slate and later chose senator Joe Biden as his running mate.

During the national campaign, he led Republican rival John McCain not only in polling numbers but also campaign fundraising.

Obama met his wife, Michelle Robinson, in June 1989 when he worked at a Chicago law firm. They married Oct. 3, 1992, and had two daughters, Malia Ann and Natasha.

(Xinhua)

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