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After his first year, Obama worked one summer at a corporate law firm in Chicago where his adviser was Michelle Robinson, another Harvard law graduate and a product of a working-class family.

They later married, and had two daughters, Malia, now 10, and Sasha, 7.

As Obama prepared to leave Harvard, job offers poured in.

But he already had a plan. He would return to Chicago for a political career.

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Again, he chose a grassroots job.

Obama ran a voter registration drive that added tens of thousands to the rolls. "He was very straightforward and had a no-nonsense, all-the-cards-on-the-table approach," recalls Sandy Newman, founder of the national group Project Vote!

Obama also began carefully mapping out a path that positioned him for public office.

He joined a small, politically connected boutique law firm that did civil rights litigation. He and his wife, Michelle, lived in Hyde Park, the racially mixed neighborhood around the University of Chicago that is home to progressive politics, intellectuals and a sprinkling of Nobel Prize winners.

"He moved in an area where an independent can come out of nowhere to win," says Don Rose, a veteran political strategist. "By choosing to work at (that law firm), he was making a political statement to where he stood."

He made many acquaintances in Hyde Park, but none proved more troublesome during the campaign than Bill Ayers, a college professor who was co-founder of the Weather Underground, an anti-Vietnam war group that claimed responsibility for bombing government buildings.

The two men served on the boards of two civic organizations in Chicago, and Ayers hosted a meet-the-candidate session during Obama's first legislative race. That connection has prompted repeated attacks from Republicans who claim it demonstrates flaws in Obama's character.

By all accounts, the two men are not close and Obama -- who was 8 when Ayers was protesting -- has condemned his radical past.

Obama also has been dogged by another association, this one with real estate developer Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who raised funds for many Illinois politicians, including the senator. Rezko was recently convicted of using his influence with the administration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich to launch a $7 million fraud and extortion scheme.

Obama was accused of no wrongdoing and barely mentioned in the trial, but the connection has proven an embarrassment. Obama gave about $159,000 from Rezko-related contributions to charity.

On the more positive side, Obama also impressed a wide number of influential Democrats and party donors who have proved invaluable in his campaigns. Among them is Abner Mikva, a former Illinois congressman and federal judge.

"He's just a complete political talent," says Mikva, who became a mentor. "He likes to get along with people. He likes to listen to them. ... He has these great talents and skills to build coalitions."

Obama's friendship with Mikva also illustrates the senator's knack for making the right connections.

"If you don't like the guy, he's a calculating politician," says Rose, the political strategist. "If you do, he's a smart, methodical worker. He does nothing that's different from most politicians, even the reform politicians. The difference is he's extraordinarily gifted. ... His greatest capability is he never makes the same mistake twice."

But that skill was nothing without a political opportunity. While waiting for one, Obama became a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. He taught constitutional law. He was popular with students and faculty, though some found him a bit remote.

"He's a great conversationalist and a good listener," says Richard Epstein, a law school professor who was not a close friend. "But he never tips his hand to what he thinks. ... At the end of the day, you don't know whether you've changed his mind or not."

In 1996, when Obama was elected to the state Senate, some lawmakers dismissed him as an ivory tower liberal.

"Some members of both parties thought that Barack was longwinded and a tad aloof and arrogant. Not me," says state Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Republican and Obama friend.

Obama won over many colleagues in nearly eight years in Springfield, joining them for weekly poker games, befriending suburban and white rural legislators.

"He was very inquisitive," says former state Sen. Denny Jacobs, a poker buddy. "He wanted to know why. He would ask a lot of questions, even on the floor (of the Senate.) I'd say, 'Barack, enough is enough. How much more do you need?'"

Obama had several legislative successes after his party took control of the Senate. He passed measures that limited lobbyists' gifts to politicians, helped expand health care to poor children and changed laws governing racial profiling, the death penalty and the interrogation of murder suspects.

He generally was a liberal, but he reached across party lines to work with Republicans.

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