Obama First in More Ways Than Any U.S. Presidential Candidate

[Ichingcarpenter]

Obama First in More Ways Than Any U.S. Presidential Candidate

June 7 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama's political career boasts a long list of firsts. He is the first presumptive presidential nominee to be a native of Hawaii and the president of the Harvard Law Review. He's also the first candidate with more than 1 million contributors.

Obama, an Illinois senator, is the first presumptive presidential nominee in modern times to have a father who wasn't a U.S. citizen, the first to earn an undergraduate degree from Columbia University in New York and the first to have attended Occidental College in Los Angeles.

``Obama's nomination would be historic in almost every respect that you can think of,'' said presidential historian Michael Beschloss.

Obama has also chalked up many near-firsts in the race for the White House. He is the fourth Illinois elected official to clinch a party presidential nomination; if elected he would be the first since Abraham Lincoln. Ronald Reagan was born in Illinois and was governor of California. Obama is the only first-term senator to lead a major party since Warren Harding in 1920.

No presidential nominee since Republican Wendell Willkie was so unknown to the American public and political establishment just a few years before he ran for president. Republicans recruited Willkie, a low-profile utilities executive, to run against two-term incumbent Franklin Roosevelt in 1940.

The first Democratic convention Obama ever attended was Los Angeles in 2000 and his credit card bounced at the rental-car station. He also wasn't able to secure a floor pass and watched most of the speeches on television screens.



Obama is the only presidential nominee in modern times whose father wasn't American. The parents of Michael Dukakis, the Democratic nominee in 1988, were Greek immigrants who became naturalized U.S. citizens. Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr. was a graduate student from Kenya who returned to Africa after his studies.

Harvard has been in the presidential game since the first U.S. election in 1789. There have been seven Harvard graduates to make it to the presidency: John Adams, his son John Quincy, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, Rutherford Hayes, John Kennedy and George W. Bush.

Harvard Ties

If Obama were to win, he would be the first U.S. president from Harvard Law School since Hayes, who graduated in 1845. Presidential nominees with Harvard degrees include Michael Dukakis, who graduated from the law school, and Al Gore.

Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt went to Columbia Law School; Obama will be the only nominee to have attended Columbia as an undergraduate. Dwight D. Eisenhower was Columbia University's president after World War II and before he ran for president in 1952. Obama transferred to Columbia in 1981 from Occidental, where former vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp graduated in 1957.

Through April, the Illinois senator raised money from a record 1.5 million donors, bringing in $256 million for the primary election, just behind the $262 million taken in by Bush in 2004. His campaign confirmed that he has now surpassed Bush's record, becoming the biggest fundraiser in U.S. history.


Obama, who will officially be nominated at the Democratic convention on the 100th birthday of Lyndon B. Johnson and will deliver his acceptance speech 45 years to the day after Martin Luther King Jr.'s ``I have a Dream Speech,'' has become the first black candidate to lead a major U.S. party.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aaUIIClmEfwA&refer=home

[Cha]

1. There's some interesting stuff in here..thanks ichingcarpenter.

Obama was lurking at the 2000 Democractic convention, Keynote Speaker at the 2004 convention and Democratic Prez candidate at the 2008 convention!
Talk about a meteoric rise in fame:patriot: :bounce: :kick: :party:

"The first Democratic convention Obama ever attended was Los Angeles in 2000 and his credit card bounced at the rental-car station. He also wasn't able to secure a floor pass and watched most of the speeches on television screens."

And, right on schedule:D

"Obama, who will officially be nominated at the Democratic convention on the 100th birthday of Lyndon B. Johnson and will deliver his acceptance speech 45 years to the day after Martin Luther King Jr.'s ``I have a Dream Speech,'' has become the first black candidate to lead a major U.S. party."

[rainbow4321]

3. Wow.. think about it...the rental car thing was just 8 years ago.

Awwwww, that's so sad.

Sucks to have that happen. Been there, done that except with a $3 attempted purchase at Subway cuz the BANK shut down everyone's debit card because of a identity theft breach (WITH NO PRIOR notice to us, the customers, for a day or two after shutting the system down). Of course, did I know THAT little tidbit of info when the Subway guy handed me back the card and shook his head? Nope.

Hey, in line with the "firsts"..his autobio mentioned that his dad was the first African student at the University of Hawaii.

[Cha]

4. It sucks but it's a

lesson in not sweating the small stuff 'cause baby won't you look at ya'll now:)

Martin Luther King and Lyndon Baines Johnson! How's that for cosmic timing?

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

5. Yeah that can happen.

They shut your card down before the letter gets to you in the mail notifying you of the identity theft.

[Toucano]

2. First Grammy Award winner to be president.

I've said that before, and I know it's insignificant, but I think it's strangely interesting.

[Cha]

6. Grammy winnner?

:)

[Starbucks Anarchist]

7. For his audiobook.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/grammys.grammy.award.2.650560.html

Hillary also won one before, and Bill won two. :D

[Cha]

8. Cool! And, Rolling Stone thinks

he's the best!

[slinkerwink]

9. I didn't know that about the 2000 Democratic convention