BARACK OBAMA DURING THE ELECTIONS On February 10, 2007, Barack Hussein Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United-States of America in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, in illinois state. The choice of the announcement was not a coincidence, it was viewed as symbolic because it was also there when the 16th President Abraham Lincoln, delivered his historic ''_House Divided_'' speech in 1858 even if he was not a President yet. Throughout the campaign, Obama emphasized the issues of rapidly ending the Iraq war, increasing energy independence and providing universal health care. He is somebody very involved in the ecology and well-being of his country, factors that favored his campaign. During his candidature, Obama's main rival was Hillary Rodham Clinton, the wife of the former President Bill Clinton. But their rivalry finally shut up on June 3, when Obama delivered a victory speech in St Paul, state of Minnesota, and when he was named as the presumptive nominee. Thereby, Clinton decided to end her campaign and endorsed Obama on June 7. From then on, Barack Obama had to face the presumptive Republican nominee, senator John McCain. On August 23, 2008, Obama announced that he had selected Delaware senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate because they are both long-time friends. At the Democratic National Convention which held from August 25 to August 28 in Denver, Colorado, Hilary Clinton and his husband called for their delegates and supporters to endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention speeches in support of Obama. The speech was viewed by over 38 million people worldwide. To close her candidacy for the presidency, in November, Obama won the presidency with 52,9% of the popular votes to McCain's 45,7% whether 365 electoral votes for Obama to 173 for McCain. He became the first African American to be elected President. He delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of