How Obama mystique has grown

On an early March night nearly four years ago in Chicago, Barack Obama supporters milled about the Hyatt Regency, munching on cheese trays and making small talk while reporters were shuffled up to the penthouse suite to chat with the Democratic Senate hopeful and watch early results.

Fast forward to 2008, and the Hyatt is about the only thing that Obama celebration has in common with the one Tuesday.

Then, he was unknown to the masses, a state lawmaker mired in obscurity amid a seven-way Democratic contest for the Senate nomination. Media outlets staffed his election night event with unpaid interns.

This time, 500 credential requests poured in from across the world and were still being processed Monday night, caught up in Obama's snowballing bid to become the first black president of the United States.

Whether he's the final nominee remains to be seen. But Obama's performance Tuesday effectively punched his ticket for the Democratic National Convention this summer.

It was that convention four years ago where he gave the stirring keynote address credited with propelling him from national nothingness to instant presidential contender.

On Tuesday, more than 2,000 supporters were shoehorned into the Hyatt ballroom and the frenzied numbers grew so large that many media outlets weren't allowed into the main event, instead covering it from an overflow ballroom. Everyone was left waiting late for Obama to emerge and speak.

"Here we are in a crowd of several thousand and Secret Service and metal detectors," said JoAnne Pazderski, 32, who grew up in Schaumberg and lives in the city. "It's amazing, but it's very exciting."

Evanston's Cameron Davis was among the early Obama supporters who turned out for the surprise Senate primary win in 2004.

"People were still just getting to know who Barack Obama was four years ago, and now people would step in front of a freight train for him," said Davis.

"Look at how crowded it is. The room was only half full (then). It's 100 times more energetic. And if it's even possible to see a more diverse crowd than four years ago, you're seeing it tonight."

Months before Obama would win the nomination, political operative Dan Shomon was wandering a smoky party for state lawmakers telling anyone who'd listen that Obama was the candidate to watch.

"It's unbelievable," Shomon, Obama's former campaign manager and political director, said Wednesday of the contrast. "People I haven't seen since I was 14 years old … they e-mail me, call me. It's crazy."

Obama's supporters recalled how, before his 2004 race and convention speech, they could go to the Hyde Park Barber Studio and get their hair cut alongside the state senator vying for U.S. Senate.

They'd see him walk down Michigan Avenue with only one assistant.

He'd speak at charity events and gatherings and then go home -- no entourage, no security detail necessary.

Suburban newcomers said they were lured by the growing Obama mystique.

"This is just something too exciting to not be a part of and not support," said Patt Heise, 57, of Palatine. Heise said she'd been a Clinton supporter for years and donated to Clinton 's campaign before learning more about Obama.

"This is greatness on a level that I've never seen. I'm almost 60, and I've never experienced this. I was a kid with Kennedy," Heise said. "It's the hope. The change that I really believe is going to happen. Not just change for the sake of change, but some real change."

Christy Cressey, 58, of Barrington Hills, met Obama 15 years ago at a South Side school in Chicago while working for a nonprofit agency. She'd tracked his career over the years and on Tuesday brought her 26-year-old daughter, Monique, to Obama's Election Night rally.

"It's something that I've never really seen in my generation," said Monique. "My parents talk about the Kennedys, but I haven't really seen that."

Obama's rise to political celebrity

A timeline of Sen. Barack Obama's life, career and candidacy:

• Aug. 4, 1961: Obama is born in Hawaii.

• 1966-71: Lives in Indonesia with mother and stepfather

• 1971-79: Returns to Hawaii and attends private school

• 1983: Graduates from Columbia University in New York

• 1984: Community organizer in poor Chicago neighborhoods

• 1990: Elected first black president of Harvard Law Review

• 1991: Graduates from Harvard Law

• November 1996: First elected to state Senate

• March 2000: Clobbered in primary to unseat U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush

• October 2002: Comes out against possibility of Iraq war

• January 2003: Announces candidacy for U.S. Senate

• March 2004: Wins U.S. Senate primary with 53 percent in seven-way race

• July 2004: Delivers keynote address at Democratic National Convention in Boston

• November 2004: Wins Senate race by record margin

• November 2004: Dismisses as "silly" the notion he'll run for president in 2008, saying he "unequivocally" would not

• January 2005: Appears on Newsweek cover, joins Senate as only black

• August 2005: Makes trip to Russia

• January 2006: Travels to Iraq, Middle East

• August 2006: Makes trip to deceased father's homeland of Africa

• October 2006: Says he now is mulling presidential bid

• Jan. 10, 2007: Illinois Democratic leaders propose moving up state's primary to aid an Obama presidential run

• Jan. 16, 2007: Announces presidential exploratory committee

• Feb. 10, 2007: Formally kicks off presidential bid in Springfield.

• Jan. 3, 2008: Wins Iowa Democratic Caucus

• Feb. 5, 2008: Obama carries Illinois and 12 other states in Super Tuesday primaries