Our Democratic Elected Officials

Local Elected Officials

Randy Fischer: House District 53

Randy has sponsored legislation that addresses community priorities, including strengthening our economy, improving our school, curbing the cost of health care, safeguarding our water and our air, increasing funding for higher education, supporting clean renewable energy, protecting families, children and seniors, and beating back special interests.

Randy has served on the House Transportation and Energy Committee; the House Education Committee; the Severance Tax Interim Committee; and on the Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee.

Thanks to so many of you for contacting him with your ideas, concerns and questions, and for attending my town hall meetings, community forums and coffees. It is because of input from involved citizens that he knows better how to serve you.

Randy sincerely hopes that you will put your support behind him again. He pledges to continue to listen to your ideas, to remain open and accessible, to work hard on your behalf, and to stand up for you in the Colorado Legislature.

http://www.randyfischer.org/
http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/House/members/Hou53.htm

John Kefalas: House District 52

John Kefalas has been involved in local, national and international peace, justice and environmental work for 30 years. He joined the Peace Corps in 1979 as an Agricultural Extension Worker in El Salvador. He visited the northern border of Nicaragua with Witness for Peace, worked in Chiapas, Mexico, with Schools for Chiapas and participated in a delegation to Israel/Palestine with The Compassionate Listening Project.


He has served on the boards of or worked with such Colorado and community-based groups as: the Colorado Housing Investment Fund Coalition, Affordable Housing Coalition of Larimer County, Northern Colorado Cross-Disabilities Coalition, Fort Collins Area Interfaith Council, Older Americans Coalition, Fort Collins Housing Authority, Colorado Women's Lobby, Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, Governor's Task Force on Welfare Reform, Martinez Park Neighborhood Association, the Colorado Children's Campaign and the Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute.

John most recently directed the Colorado Progressive Coalition's Tax Fairness Project, a grassroots organizing campaign that educates Coloradans about the impacts of state and federal budget decisions on families and communities and mobilizes people to change unfair tax and fiscal policies.

John is a 1978 graduate of Colorado State University and has Masters of Art in Teaching from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. He was a teacher in the Poudre School District, a migrant health outreach worker for Larimer County, an employment and training counselor for Larimer County and an advisor for Project Self-Sufficiency of Loveland-Fort Collins. He worked with Catholic Charities as a public policy advocate and community development coordinator for seven years.

He is a husband, father and grandfather who has been married for 25 years and has two sons, both of whom received their education in the Poudre School District. His younger son, Tim, is a recent graduate of Colorado State University; the other is married, a father and serves in the United States Army in Germany. He served in Iraq from 2004 – 2005. Harlan just completed a 15-month deployment in Afghanistan and has been reunited with his wife and two daughters. John's wife Beth works as the Special Music Coordinator at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Collins.

John has worked on community issues such as the economy, health care, education, the environment and energy, public safety and effective government/deliberative democracy/civic engagement. For more information on his opinions of these issues, go to his web site at http://www.johnkefalas.com/.

http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/House/members/Hou52.htm

Bob Bacon: Senate District 14

As a citizen of Fort Collins for over 40 years, Bob knows the community well. Teaching and working with many scores of students and their parents, his many contacts while on the school board, as well as in the legislature, have allowed him to have firsthand knowledge of issues and concerns affecting our citizens.

Education
Bob is a passionate advocate for education, from early childhood, through K-12, and on to community college and university. As just two examples of his extensive commitments to the full spectrum of education in Colorado, in the 2008 state legislature, Bob authored bills to permit local school districts to provide resources for full-day kindergarten, and he successfully advocated for funding for buildings at both CSU and the Larimer Campus of Front Range Community College.

Economy
Jobs, particularly in the high tech sector, are threatened in our community. The state must do all it can to encourage and aid the entrepreneurial efforts and retraining of those who have suffered from downsizing and outsourcing. In the 2008 state legislature, Bob led the fight to create bioscience grants totaling $27.5 million for CSU and other universities. Bob supported and sponsored numerous economic stimulus bills in the 2008 legislature, including a bill to incentivize small business job creation, and to reduce taxes on airplane manufacturing in Colorado. The highlight of Bob’s economic work in the 2008 legislature was his sponsorship of SB 170 which allowed a 20 year extension of the Downtown Development Authority in Fort Collins. Governor Ritter came to Fort Collins and signed the bill in Old Town Square.

Health care
Affordable and readily available health care is a concern to all Coloradans. Fixing our health care crisis is a major undertaking, and Bob will continue to work hard in the state legislature to move health care reform forward. In the 2008 legislature, Bob voted to give healthcare to 50,000 children who did not have health insurance, and to allow parents to keep children under the age of 25 on their family health insurance. Much more work needs to be done to address our health care crisis, and Bob is committed to the work.

Environment
Bob believes that what’s good for the environment is good for the economy, and Bob knows that Fort Collins citizens want a healthy and clean environment. For the last four years, Bob has received a 100% rating from Colorado Conservation Voters for his pro-environment votes in the state legislature. Fort Collins citizens have consistently voted to support open space programs, and Bob authored a bill to purchase over 5,000 acres in the Livermore area to add to the Rabbit Creek natural area for the enjoyment of Larimer County citizens. In the 2008 legislature, Bob was a co-sponsor of the bill to help local communities protect land and ground water supplies from radioactive waste produced by uranium mining.

2008 Senate Committee Assignments
Chair, Local Government Committee
Chair, Capital Development Committee
Member, Education Committee, Judiciary Committee and Capitol Building Advisory Committee

Bob welcomes your phone calls and emails. As your State Senator, he pledges to listen and to fight for the best, fair, and visionary public policy to address the needs of the citizens of our city and state.

http://www.baconforsenate.com
info@baconforsenate.com
http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/Senate/members/Sen14.htm

BACK TO TOP

State Elected Officials

Cary Kennedy: Colorado State Treasurer

Cary Kennedy moved to Colorado when she was seven years old. She graduated from Manual High School (Denver) in 1986 and from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, in 1990. She earned a masters degree in public administration from Columbia University in 1993 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Denver College of Law in 1995. Cary is a member of the Colorado bar.

Cary worked in the Governor's Office of State Planning and Budgeting (gubernatorial appointment) for Governor Roy Romer from 1995 to 1998. She worked as a fiscal analyst for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, Children's Basic Health Plan in 1998 and 1999. In 1999-2000, Cary led a broad bi-partisan coalition to increase funding for Colorado's public schools. Amendment 23 was approved by Colorado voters in November, 2000. In 2000-2002, Cary worked for Educare Colorado (now Qualistar) to bring increased federal funding into Colorado to support early education and school readiness. She later joined the Colorado Children's Campaign to work on a statewide initiative to increase the tax on tobacco products in order to expand health insurance for low income children and fund cancer research. In 2004-2005 Cary served as the policy director for House Speaker Andrew Romanoff to assist with the development of the budget compromise Referendum C, approved by Colorado voters in November 2005.

The benefits of Cary Kennedy's passion, hard work and creativity are felt every day by Coloradans throughout the state:
Cary organized and led a broad, bi-partisan coalition to increase funding for Colorado's public schools. As a driving force behind the creation and passage of Amendment 23 in 2000, Cary helped Colorado reverse a decade-long decline in public education funding.
Cary helped develop a statewide initiative approved by Colorado voters to increase Colorado's tobacco tax in order to expand Colorado's investment in children's health care and cancer research.
Cary proposed and helped develop an adjustment to the budget to reflect growth in population (called the "growth dividend"), which Governor Owens signed into law in 2002. The adjustment helped the state to balance the budget in 2004 and 2005.
As policy director for House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, Cary helped legislative leaders build the bi-partisan budget proposal Referendum C, and give taxpayers a first-ever annual report outlining how their tax dollars are spent.

Cary is married to Dr. Saurabh Mangalik and they have two children, Kadin (8) and Kyra (6).

http://www.kennedyfortreasurer.com/index.html
http://www.colorado.gov/treasury/

Bernie Bueshcer: Colorado Secretary of State

Bernie Buescher is a fourth generation Coloradoan who was born and raised in Grand Junction and has lived there most of his life.  After the untimely death of his father, when Bernie was 15 years old, Bernie's mother, Vickey Buescher, worked hard to put her three children through college and her example taught them that through hard work they could achieve their goals.  While at Grand Junction High School, Bernie was the editor of the school newspaper.  After graduation, he went on to college at Notre Dame and graduated with an accounting degree which he used to help put himself through law school.  While at Notre Dame, Bernie met his future wife, Mary Beth.  They have been married for 37 years and they have four adult children, Michael, Elizabeth, Marcia and Susan, and two grandchildren. Bernie and Mary Beth both received their law degrees from the University of Colorado in 1974.  

After law school, Bernie and Mary Beth returned to Grand Junction where they raised their family.  They became immersed in issues facing the community and together, Bernie and Mary Beth were named "Citizens of the Year" for 2004 by the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce to honor their extensive community involvement. 

On January 14, 2009, Bernie was sworn in as Colorado's Secretary of State.  During the previous four years, Bernie served two terms in the Colorado House of Representatives. At the legislature, Bernie was appointed to the Joint Budget Committee, where he worked on behalf of Colorado to find innovative, bipartisan solutions to the difficult issues facing the state. Bernie served as Chair of the Budget Committee in 2006 and 2008, and as chair of the Appropriations Committee in 2007 and 2008. 

Key legislative accomplishments include working on legislation to protect PERA, legislation promoting Colorado's wineries, legislation promoting the use of renewable energy for Colorado, counseling for victims of child abuse, and legislation expanding the Low Income Energy Assistance Program. He also worked on significant legislation regarding the allocation of federal mineral lease revenues to aid in funding higher education and continuously made an effort to establish a Rainy Day Fund for the state.   

Prior to holding public office, Bernie was appointed by Governor Roy Romer to reorganize the Colorado State Fair.  Governor Romer then tapped him to be the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Finance, where, he was responsible for implementing the Children's Basic Health Plan.  For nearly ten years, he served as President of West Star Aviation, where he grew the company from 28 employees to 220 employees. Bernie practiced law as a member of Williams, Turner and Holmes, P.C. from 1975 through 1986.  

http://www.BernieBuescher.com/
http://www.sos.state.co.us/

Barbara O'Brien: Lieutenant Governor

Barbara O'Brien is a long-time advocate for young children and teens and has a history of innovative policy initiatives.

Prior to becoming Lt. Governor, O'Brien spent 16 years as president of the Colorado Children's Campaign, a statewide public policy and advocacy nonprofit organization. Her leadership has produced major statewide policy initiatives that increased funding for schools, created charter schools, expanded early childhood education, increased access to health care for uninsured children, reduced teen smoking and expanded after-school programs.

As lieutenant governor, O'Brien has an ambitious agenda for education, health and wellness, and aerospace issues.

Education
Colorado has one of the most educated populations in the nation but faces some education challenges. Gov. Ritter appointed Lt. Governor O'Brien to serve as the co-chair of the P-20 Education Council, which oversees education reform and innovation from pre-school to post-secondary education. In its first year, the P-20 Council successfully advocated for expansion of full-day kindergarten and pre-school statewide.

Health & Wellness
Colorado is one of the nation's healthiest states, but its residents are on the same obesity trend upward as the rest of the country. To help change the trend, Lt. Gov. O'Brien is working with the Metro Denver Health & Wellness Commission and LiveWell Colorado, a public-private partnership to encourage small steps toward healthier habits in schools, communities and at work.

Aerospace
Colorado is home to the second largest aerospace industry (after California). There are 26,650 private aerospace jobs in Colorado and 171,200 people in space-related jobs. So it is no surprise that aerospace is one of four economic development sectors targeted by the Ritter administration as critical to the state's future. Lt. Gov. O'Brien serves as co-chair of the Colorado Space Coalition, a group of business, government and military representatives that support and promote Colorado's aerospace industry. Lt. Gov. O'Brien actively promotes science, technology, engineering and math education to ensure Colorado's next generation of aerospace workforce.

Commission on Indian Affairs
The lieutenant governor's office is also home to the Colorado Commission on Indian Affairs and Lt. Gov. O'Brien serves as its chair. The Commission was created in 1976 to foster productive relationships between state government, Colorado's two Ute tribes and other American Indian residents. In January 2008, the tribal chairs for both the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Tribes were invited to attend Governor Ritter's State of the State speech for the first time in modern history.

Personal Background
Lt. Gov. O'Brien and Dr. Richard O'Brien have been married for 36 years. They have lived in Colorado since 1982. They are parents to two grown sons, Jared and Connor, and live in Denver with their two dogs Tas and Tika.

http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/LeftLtGov/LLG/1187340344163

Bill Ritter: Governor of Colorado

Bill Ritter, Jr. was elected as Colorado's 41st governor in 2006 -- the first Colorado-born governor in more than 35 years.

He has quickly established the state as a national and international leader on energy innovation, business development, and building a New Energy Economy for Colorado and the nation's future. CNBC recently named Colorado one of the top five states in the country for business, and Money Magazine named Fort Collins the second-best place to live in America. 

Gov. Ritter wants to harness Colorado's abundant supplies of traditional and renewable energy, as well as the intellectual capital of its workforce, to provide a catalyst for change towards a more sustainable national energy portfolio that can produce thousands of homegrown jobs.

To achieve that goal, Gov. Ritter has doubled Colorado's renewable energy standard, requiring that 20 percent of the state's electricity come from renewable sources by 2020. He has forged stronger relationships with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and helped create a unique Colorado Renewable Energy "Collaboratory" that links NREL with three of the state's leading universities. This Collaboratory will draw on the combined expertise at NREL and the brainpower at CU, CSU, and Colorado School of Mines to research and develop renewable energy projects and quickly bring them to the commercial market.

Both US and international companies have responded by building and expanding operations in Colorado. Denmark-based Vestas Blades opened its first North American manufacturing plant in Colorado earlier this year, and has announced expansion plans for two more facilities, totaling 2,450 Colorado jobs. ConocoPhillips soon will be opening its global alternative-fuels R&D center in Colorado, which could produce 7,000 jobs by 2010. Gov. Ritter travelled to Spain in July 2008 to meet with several Spanish solar companies, one of which already has its US headquarters near Denver.

To provide the workforce needed for these 21st century jobs, Gov. Ritter is leading a reform of K-12 education in Colorado and has invested more money in higher education than any other Governor in Colorado history. His goal is to ensure that all Colorado students have the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in a 21st century economy, which means cutting the dropout rate and the minority student achievement gap in half and doubling the number of college degrees awarded to Coloradans over the next 10 years.

The sixth of 12 children, Gov. Ritter was raised on a small farm in Arapahoe County. He was a member of the first graduating class of Gateway High School (1974), and he earned his bachelor's degree in political science from Colorado State University (1978) and his law degree from the University of Colorado (1981).

His first job out of law school was as a deputy district attorney in Denver. In 1987, Gov. Ritter and his wife, First Lady Jeannie Ritter, left Denver to run a food distribution and nutrition center in Zambia, Africa. They returned home in 1990, and three years later Ritter was appointed as Denver's District Attorney, a position he held until January 2005. He earned a national reputation as one of the country's most effective and innovative prosecutors, and several of his programs continue to serve as state and national models.

The governor and First Lady Jeannie Ritter have four children: August (22), Abe (20), Sam (17) and daughter Tally (15).

http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/GovRitter/GOVR/1177024890424

BACK TO TOP

Federal Elected Officials

Betsy Markey: Colorado Congressional District 4

Experienced voice in the 4th Congressional District
From January 2005 to May 2007 Betsy Markey served the people of the 4th Congressional District as U.S. Senator Ken Salazar’s Regional Director for northern and eastern Colorado, a region encompassing the overwhelming majority of the 4th Congressional District’s people and land. She worked closely with businesses, agricultural groups, elected leaders, non-profits and individual constituents to represent their interests.

Successful businesswoman
Betsy is co-founder of Syscom Services, Inc., an Internet consulting and web site development firm. Betsy helped lead the firm to a #99 ranking in the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. Syscom boasts annual sales of over $7 million and a workforce of over 40 employees. Betsy also was the owner of Huckleberry’s, an extremely successful and popular coffee and ice cream shop in Old Town Fort Collins.

Skilled public servant
Betsy also has extensive governmental experience. In 1978, she was hired by U.S. Congressman Herb Harris (D-VA) to work as a legislative aide for the Subcommittee on Post Office and Civil Service. After completing a Masters in Public Administration in 1983, Betsy was appointed a Presidential Management Fellow. She earned coveted assignments in the Treasury Department, as a budget and program analyst, a human resources specialist, and a staff assistant to the Deputy Commissioner of the Customs Service.

The U.S. Department of State recruited Betsy in 1984 to develop computer security policies for the newly-formed Office of Information Systems Security. She held a top secret security clearance and traveled extensively to U.S. embassies and consulates. Betsy received the State Department’s Meritorious Honor Award for creating their first computer security training program.

Active community member
Betsy is an active community volunteer. She served as President of the Board of Directors of the Food Bank for Larimer County and has volunteered in the Poudre R-1 School District.

In 2001, Betsy became involved in local politics for the first time and, once again, inspired success. She founded the Northern Colorado Democratic Business Coalition to encourage small business owners to voice their opinions. In 2002, she was elected to Chair the Larimer County Democratic Party, a position she held until January 2005. During her tenure the party grew exponentially and elected several Democrats to public office at the local, state and national level.

Wife and mother
Betsy has been married to her husband Jim for 23 years. They have three children: Katie, 21, Erin, 19, and Al, 16. She enjoys spending time at her cabin in Northeastern Colorado, hiking, tennis, reading, traveling or any other excuse to spend time with Jim and the kids.

http://www.markeyforcongress.com/

Michael Bennet: US Senate

Michael Bennet served most recently as the Superintendent of the Denver Public Schools. As a dedicated public servant with comprehensive experience as a businessman, Michael has a proven record of facing tough tasks at critical times. As Superintendent, Michael worked to improve student achievement and classroom performance, while also overseeing a halt to years of budgetary cuts in the Denver Public Schools. While serving as Chief of Staff to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Michael was credited with leading the way on balancing a historic budget deficit. Prior to his service to the city, Michael was a Managing Director at the Anschutz Investment Company, where he managed the restructuring of over $3 billion in corporate debt. Representing Colorado as our state’s U.S. Senator, Michael will use his understanding and leadership on complex financial and economic issues to be a voice for Colorado’s working families.

Almost four years ago, Michael inherited a School District whose achievement rates were flat and, where, for year after year, budgets were cut. With the help of Denver Public Schools’ principals and teachers, Michael has turned this around. Achievement and graduation rates are up, with Denver’s kids growing faster than all the kids in the state on every single test at every single grade level with the exception of one math test.

As Superintendent, Michael worked hard to end the annual cycle of budget cuts at the Denver Public Schools. 2008 was the first in five years that the district did not have to cut its budget, and this year Denver was able to invest an additional $18 million in its schools and classrooms to enrich the academic environment for children. As a result, programs such as comprehensive Early Childhood Education have been enacted allowing over 2,000 four year olds to now have a full day Early Childhood Education. Additionally, for the first time in Denver’s history, over 90% of five year olds have access to full-day kindergarten. These improvements are closing the achievement gap suffered by low-income children.

Michael, working with the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, revolutionized Procomp, a system of differentiated pay that pays teachers more for driving student achievement, serving in a high poverty school, or bringing a special set of talents, like the teaching of math or special education. Although the changes proposed were controversial, nearly 80% of Denver’s teachers voted for the new proposal.

Prior to serving as Superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, Michael served for two years as Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s Chief of Staff. Michael oversaw the balancing of an historic budget deficit, the renegotiation of several collective bargaining agreements, and a complete redesign of the police oversight function. Michael, along with the Mayor, was widely credited with putting together a first rate, diverse team to lead the City through unprecedented fiscal challenges.

Prior to moving to Denver, Michael served as Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice during the Clinton Administration.

Michael earned his bachelor’s degree with honors from Wesleyan University and his law degree from Yale Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of The Yale Law Journal.

Michael married Susan Daggett, a successful natural resources lawyer, in 1997. Michael and Susan are the proud parents of three daughters, Caroline (9), Halina (7), and Anne (4).

http://www.bennetforcolorado.com/

Mark Udall: US Senate

Mark began his career in public service in the Colorado State House in 1997. Since 1998, he has represented Colorado's Second Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is currently running to serve Colorado in the United States Senate.

Mark is known for his willingness to elevate the policy debate above partisan politics in order to find workable solutions to difficult political issues. Most recently, he worked across party lines to pass legislation to reduce wildfire risk and bark-beetle infestation in Colorado, and to pass legislation to protect the natural beauty of the Roan Plateau while still allowing some access to the area's mineral wealth.

Mark is also known for taking leadership in difficult political environments. He voted against the rush to war with Iraq in 2002 and against the PATRIOT Act, despite immense political pressure to support both bills in the wake of September 11. As co-chair of the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, Mark championed efforts to provide government support for the development of sustainable and renewable energy resources before energy resource diversity was widely recognized as an essential component to a sound energy policy.

Throughout his time in public office, Mark has worked hard to promote issues important to Coloradans. He is a member of the Armed Services Committee and has co-authored legislation to strengthen our military and to develop new strategies for combating terrorism. Mark has also served on the House Natural Resources Committee, House Small Business Committee, and House Agriculture Committee. He has successfully passed legislation promoting energy conservation, developing bio-mass fuels and protecting Colorado's wilderness from the effects of climate change. He also is responsible for sparking the clean-up of Rocky Flats—turning the closed nuclear trigger facility into a wildlife refuge.
Mark believes that public service requires a commitment to helping Coloradans make their government work for them. He has a strong record in responding to constituent concerns, and providing assistance to citizens working with government agencies.

Mark lives in Eldorado Springs, Colorado. His wife, Maggie Fox, is a prominent environmental attorney. He has two children, Jed who is a freshman in college, and Tess who is a senior in high school. He is an experienced outdoorsman and mountain climber. He has climbed many of the toughest mountains in the world-including all of Colorado's "Fourteeners."

http://www.markudall.com/
http://markudall.house.gov/HoR/co02

Barack Obama: President of the United States

Background
Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British. Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton's army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii.

It was there, at the University of Hawaii, where Barack's parents met. His mother was a student there, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America. Barack's father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.

Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.

The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics.

He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

Political Career
It has been the rich and varied experiences of Barack Obama's life - growing up in different places with people who had differing ideas - that have animated his political journey. Amid the partisanship and bickering of today's public debate, he still believes in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose - a politics that puts solving the challenges of everyday Americans ahead of partisan calculation and political gain.

In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.

In the U.S. Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress.

As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan. Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America's addiction to oil, he's working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in our cars.

Whether it's the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, Barack Obama continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century. But above all his accomplishments and experiences, he is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, live on Chicago's South Side.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

BACK TO TOP