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Candidate Name: Barack Hussein Obama II



Current Government Position
 * President of the United States

Past Government Positions
 * Community Organizer (Chicago)
 * 3 terms in the Illinois State Senate
 * 1 term in the House of Representatives
 * 1 term in the United States Senate

Political Party Affiliation:
 * Democratic Party

Home State:
 * Illinois

Biography, Education and Political Experience Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He lived with his mother when he was young, and moved to Indonesia for several years. Eventually he moved back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents, and attended Punahou Academy where he excelled in basketball and academics. Once he graduated he attended Occidental Academy in Los Angeles for two year, he then transferred to Columbia University in New York and got a degree in political science. After he graduated he became a community organizer in Chicago. After several years he returned to school at Harvard this time, to get a law degree, which he believed would "allow him to access the corridors of power", helping his political career and allowing him to help the people he met while working as a community organizer. He then spent several years in the Illinois government, before severing one term a Senator for Illinois in Congress, and then finally running as the democratic nominee for president in 2008. He won and is running for reelection in 2012.

Political Positions Obama: Believes that taxes should be lower for middle class families and lower for small bushiness owners. He also believes that people who make over 250,000 dollars a year should have to pay more in taxes.

OBAMA: We're a nation that believes in the Second Amendment, and I believe in the Second Amendment. We've got a long tradition of hunting and sportsmen and people who want to make sure they can protect themselves. My belief is that we have to enforce the laws we've already got, make sure that we're keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, those who are mentally ill. We've done a much better job in terms of background checks, but we've got more to do when it comes to enforcement. But weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don't belong on our streets. Part of it is seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced. But part of it is also looking at other sources of the violence. Because frankly, in my home town of Chicago, there's an awful lot of violence and they're not using AK-47s. They're using cheap hand guns.

Obama: Supports access to abortion. Health care law requires contraceptives to be available for free for women enrolled in workplace health plans, including access to morning-after pill, which does not terminate a pregnancy but is considered tantamount to an abortion pill by some religious conservatives. Supported requiring girls 16 and under to get a prescription for the morning-after pill, available without a prescription for older women.

Possible new President Obama hopes to strengthen the United States-Mexico border by funding an increase in security personnel and technological advancements at all ports of entry. He also has planned to help many illegal aliens make an easy transition from illegal to legal status, hoping to keep families together and meet the constant demands for the jobs American employers are unable to fill.

Obama: Term marked by high unemployment, a deep recession that began in previous administration and officially ended within six months, and gradual recovery with persistently high jobless rates of above 8 percent, until the rate dropped to 7.8 in September, the same as it was in February 2009, Obama’s first full month in office. Businesses have added jobs for more than two years straight while public sector jobs have lagged. Responded to recession with a roughly $800 billion stimulus plan, expanded auto industry bailout begun under George W. Bush, inherited and carried forward Wall Street bailout.

Placement on Politcal Spectrum

Barack Obama is positioned on the left end of the spectrum politically. He is generally viewed as a moderate liberal, although he has been labeled as a fanatic liberal by right wing groups because of legislation he passed, such as the Affordable Care Act.

Philosophy

Barack Obama has the philosophy that the government should redistribute some of the country's wealth through social programs that benefit poor or unemployed citizens.

Base of Support > Source of Opposition
 * College Students
 * Poor Citizens
 * Young People
 * Workers Unions
 * Liberal Super PACs
 * House Majority PAC
 * Majority PAC
 * Priority USA Action PAC


 * Old People
 * Business Owners
 * In general people in the Financial Sector
 * Republican Super PAC
 * American Crossroads PAC

Campaign Website

Below is the link to the website for the 2012 Obama Presidential Campaign.
 * @http://www.barackobama.com/

Video, Articles, and Quotes

The link below is from the New York Times, and shows the two candidates in the third debate. The debate is broken up into the key issues, with a typed transcript of what the candidates said, a video of the part of the debate covered by the transcript, and fact check articles which discuss some of the important, and controversial things said by the candidate in the debate.


 * @http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/10/23/us/politics/20121023-third-presidential-debate-obama-romney.html

Interesting Facts
 * Spent part of his childhood in Indonesia
 * Worked at a Baskin Robins as a Teenager
 * He is Fluent in Spanish

Polling Information and Projected Chance
 * At last poll Obama and Romney were tied at 49% each.
 * It is a very close race and neither candidate can seem to take a decisive lead.
 * Some analysts expect that Romney will win the Popular vote, and Obama will win the Electoral Vote.