Barack Obama campaigns for a U.S. Senate seat at the Illinois state fair, August, 2004. As an Illinois state senator, Obama ran for Congress in 2000 but lost. But in 2004, buoyed by his national attention from his Democratic National Convention speech, Obama won with about 73 percent of the vote.

On the day Illinois voters headed to the polls in 2004, an exit poll asked if the not-yet-elected Obama would make a good president. Nearly half said he would.

During his campaign, Obama voiced his opposition to the war in Iraq. In the Senate, where Obama is the only African American senator, he plays a key role in shaping Iraq policy by serving on the Foreign Relations Committee.

(© AP Images)