Prometheus 6

Democrats pinning high expectations on an Illinois senator

CHICAGO -- Go back one month, and Barack Obama seemed destined to be an also-ran in a messy Democratic primary for a US Senate seat in Illinois. He had little money, no name recognition, and no support from this city's Democratic machine.

Yet Obama won, big.

The state senator from Chicago's South Side is no longer a quiet stranger in political circles. Obama, 42, is suddenly a darling of the party -- someone who could tip the balance of power in the US Senate as an early favorite in the general election race. If he wins, he will become the third black member of the US Senate since Reconstruction.

With a deep-pocketed Republican, Jack Ryan, as his opponent, victory is no cinch for Obama. But these are heady times. On the night of the primary victory, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Martin Luther King Jr. "and the martyrs" were smiling on Obama. Pundits compared his win to the day in 1983 when Harold Washington became Chicago's first black mayor. Obama seemed to step into history.

But if he is anything, it is modest, according to those who work with him. They say voters should not expect a fiery leader who pounds his fists, but rather, a measured collaborator similar to the late Paul Simon, who represented Illinois in the Senate from 1985 to 1997.

"He knows why he's in public life," said David Axelrod, a political consultant who works for Obama.