barack hussein obama, born on august 4, 1961, is the junior united states senator from illinois and presidential nominee of the democratic party in the 2008 united states presidential election.
obama graduated with a b.a. from columbia in 1983, then at the start of the following year worked for a year at the business international corporation and then at the new york public interest research group.
after four years in new york city, obama moved to chicago, where he was hired as director of the developing communities project (dcp) and worked there for three years from june 1985 to may 1988.
obama entered harvard law school in late 1988. at the end of his first year, he was selected, based on his grades and a writing competition, as an editor of the harvard law review. in february 1990, in his second year, he was elected president of the law review, a full-time vo