CANDIDATE WATCH: The stars and their stripes

Barack Obama, Democrat: Barack Obama is the fifth African American Senator in US History and the only African American currently serving in the US Senate. Obama is one of the front-running democratic presidential candidates.

• He was one of the few candidates opposing the Iraq invasion from the very beginning, voting against it in 2003. He is against troop surge and favours phased redeployment. “I’m proud that I put forward a plan in January that mirrors what the Congress ultimately adopted, and it says, there’s no military solution to this. We’ve got to have a political solution, begin a phased withdrawal, and make certain that we’ve got benchmarks in place so that the Iraqi people can make a determination about how they want to move forward.”

• On the issue of abortion he is pro-choice. “I trust women to make these decisions, in conjunction with their doctors, families and their clergy.”

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• Obama believes that the US must lead global efforts in reducing carbon emissions and supports a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

• On the issue of healthcare, he proposes universal coverage of insurance. “Most families want health care but they can’t afford it. So my emphasis is on driving down the costs, taking on the insurance companies, making sure that they are limited in the ability to extract profits and deny coverage.”

• A junior Senator from Illinois, Obama has to his credit a number of bestselling books.