Barack Obama,a first-term senator from Illinois,would be the first African-American president of the United States if elected.Serving in the Senate since 2004,Obama introduced bipartisan legislation what allows Americans to learn online how their tax dollars are spent.He also serves on the Veterans' Affairs Committee,which helps oversee the care of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.Previously,Obama worked as a community organizer and civil rights attorney in Chicago,and served for eight years in the Illinois State Senate.Obama was born August 4,1961,in Hawaii and has lived in many places,including Indonesia.His mother was from Kansas and his father from Kenya.Obama attended Columbia University in New York and earned a law degree at Harvard University in Massachusetts.He and his wife,Michelle Obama,who also worked as a lawyer and later for the University of Chicago,have two young daughters.