The race to decide the Democratic candidate for the 2008 elections was, by anyone's standards, a stirring moment in history. For the first time, an African American was running against a woman, for the chance to become the President of the United States. Regardless of the result, the winner would make history if voted into office. After a long, protracted battle, Hillary Clinton conceded defeat and even promised to help Obama in his quest to become the first African American President of the United States. Barack Obama – His Story charts his meteoric rise through the political minefield that is the US Senate, while also showing a more personal side to the man adored by Oprah Winfrey and many other celebrities who have helped fund his campaign. Born in Hawaii in 1961, his mother married twice, relocating the family to Indonesia to live with her second husband when Obama was 6 years old. She sent her 10 year old son to live with his grandparents in Hawaii, hoping that he will receive a better education there, and he did, although as he grew into his teens he began to question his identity more and more. He graduated from Columbia University in 1985 with a BA in Political Science, and moved to Chicago where he helped establish a job network and tenant's rights advocacy for the underprivileged. In 1988 he was accepted into Harvard Law, and in two years would be elected President of the Harvard Law Review. He was as successful in his personal life as he had been in his academic endeavors, marrying lawyer Michelle Johnson, whom he says could beat him in any political campaign, easily. He credits his wife; his mother and personal friend Regina in helping him understand gender politics. In 1996 Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate, a position he would hold throughout two further election years – 1998 and 2002. He suffered his first political defeat during this time, being outvoted 2-1 in a bid to join the House of Representatives. He took this loss in his stride, vowing to learn from the experience. In a key note address during the Democratic Convention in July of 2004 he said "I owe a debt to all those who came before me, and that in no other country on Earth would my story even be possible". Now the Democratic candidate for the Presidency, he has the chance to write his story into the annals of American History.
