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Anachronistic Audacity
In 1996, Illinois State Senator Alice J. Palmer announced that she would not run for another term in the state legislature. Palmer instead opted to run for Congress, and later that year, won election to the House of Representatives. During her campaign for Congress, Palmer received the endorsements of the Reverend Jesse Jackson and his son, Jesse Jackson Jr. As revealed years later, the Jacksons and Palmer had struck a deal in which they would back her bid for Congress while Palmer endorsed Jackson Jr., who entered and easily won the Democratic primary for her State Senate seat. Later that same year, Jesse Jackson Jr. was elected to the Illinois State Senate representing Illinois’ 13th district, succeeding Palmer. Jackson served as a State Senator from 1996-2004, leaving the office upon being elected to the US Senate.
Since her election in 1992, Senator Carol Moseley-Braun had been involved in a few major controversies that left stains on her image. One controversy was a 1993 investigation by the Federal Election Commission for $249,000 in campaign funds that remained unaccounted for, which Moseley-Braun attributed to bookkeeping errors. The Justice Department denied two separate requests from the IRS for an investigation. Another was a controversial visit to Nigeria, where she met with then-dictator Sani Abacha, whose human rights records she would later defend in Congress. Senator Moseley-Braun did not register her trip with the State Department, or even notify the Department of the trip despite US sanctions against Abacha.
When she was up for re-election in 1998, Senator Moseley-Braun trailed her presumed Republican challenger, Peter Fitzgerald, by a large margin in the polls. She was also very unpopular within her own party, suggesting there could be room for another Democrat to challenge her for the nomination. Such a suggestion was not beyond the bounds of reason, considering that Moseley-Braun herself had defeated then-Senator Alan J. Dixon for the Democratic nomination in 1992, and then winning the general election against Republican Richard S. Williamson. Moseley-Braun’s primary challenger was a constitutional law professor at University of Chicago Law School named Barack Obama.
At first, Professor Obama’s candidacy was viewed as a long-shot, despite Moseley-Braun’s deep unpopularity, because he had very little name recognition. Obama entered the Democratic primary in early 1997, and campaigned hard against Moseley-Braun. Within a month of the start of his campaign, Obama had succeeded in getting the word out about his candidacy, but he still trailed Moseley-Braun in the polls. As time passed, Obama gained the endorsement of a number of Democrats in the State Legislature, as well as Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and former Senator Paul Simon.
At the Democratic debate, Moseley-Braun and Obama matched wits on the issues. The debate was seen as a victory for Obama, who appeared calm and competent, as opposed to Moseley-Braun, who appeared flustered at times when answering questions she was uncomfortable with. Perhaps the biggest moment of the debate was when the candidates were asked to talk about their race and how it affects them. Moseley-Braun stirred up controversy when she used the N-word to describe how she claims to be a victim of racism. It has been speculated that the use of the word in the debate had turned off many potential African-American voters, as evidenced by her post-debate drop in the polls.
Barack Obama defeated Carol Moseley-Braun and won the Democratic nomination for the US Senate. His Republican challenger was State Senator Peter Fitzgerald, who had been elected in 1992. The 1998 election was hard-fought between Fitzgerald and Obama, with each having an advantage over the other. For Obama, the advantage was that Illinois voters tended to favor Democrats over Republicans, giving him an edge in securing votes. For Fitzgerald, it was that Obama had no prior experience in government, making Fitzgerald more qualified for the position due to his service in the State Senate. Obama’s complete lack of experience in government was a major issue in the campaign, and became the centerpiece of Fitzgerald’s campaign. Obama managed to fend off Fitzgerald’s accusations of not being ready to serve by asserting his knowledge of the issues. He managed to hold his own against Fitzgerald in the debates.
Obama and Fitzgerald polled close all throughout the race, though Obama had always held a lead over Fitzgerald. In terms of fundraising, Obama had managed to rake in more than his opponent, and he also managed to gain the endorsement of a number of high-profile Democrats, including Vice President Al Gore, who made an appearance at one of his campaign stops. It came as no surprise when Barack Obama won election to the United States Senate, defeating Peter Fitzgerald by 121,842 votes.