Obama's Chicago Politics

In Obama's successful first run at the Illinois senate, he used legal challenges to his opponents' nominating petitions to eliminate all his competition in the primary, including at least one long-time community activist. I have no idea if a Republican would've succeeded in that election or if Obama's legal challenges guaranteed his victory. Obama's thoughts::

"I gave some thought to … should people be on the ballot even if they didn't meet the requirements," he said. "My conclusion was that if you couldn't run a successful petition drive, then that raised questions in terms of how effective a representative you were going to be."

Asked whether the district's primary voters were well-served by having only one candidate, Obama smiled and said: "I think they ended up with a very good state senator."

More on Obama's Chicago days with Emil Jones Jr.:

Jones further helped raise Obama's profile by having him craft legislation addressing the day-to-day tragedies that dominated local news ­headlines.

For instance. Obama sponsored a bill banning the use of the diet supplement ephedra, which killed a Northwestern University football player, and another one preventing the use of pepper spray or pyrotechnics in nightclubs in the wake of the deaths of 21 people during a stampede at a Chicago nightclub. Both stories had received national attention and extensive local coverage.

Drugs on a table.