ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

Barack Obama was a community activist. He went to law school, and is now a state senator and a law professor in Chicago. He's biracial. His father was Kenyan; his mother was white, from Kansas.

NORRIS: Our colleague Melissa Block spoke with Obama this morning on the convention floor.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Barack Obama, thanks for being with us.

State Senator BARACK OBAMA (Democrat, Illinois): Absolutely. It's my pleasure.

BLOCK: Was there a moment when you thought: `Why me? I'm 42, first time out of the box, running for Senate. Why me?'

Sen. OBAMA: Well, you know, I think there's no doubt that some of it has to do with the fact that I stand to be the only African-American in the US Senate if I'm successful in this race. And this is a party that cares about inclusion, and I think it sends a strong message.

More importantly, the way we won our primary, I think, created a sense of hope among Democrats and Republicans, because what we did was we confounded some of the predictions that an African-American can't get white votes, or somebody from the city can't get suburban votes, or somebody from upstate Illinois can't get downstate Illinois votes. It really--I think we showed that you got to give voters more credit. They're willing to listen to a message, and if it's one that's compelling, that talks to their needs, then they'll be open-minded.

BLOCK: Is there some risk of being typecast in that? Four years ago, it was Harold Ford, a young black congressman from Tennessee.

Sen. OBAMA: Right. You know, I'm a huge admirer of Harold Ford's. I think that the danger that I've seen is the tendency to assume that we can only have one African-American leader on the national stage at a time. You know, what I am hoping for is a multitude of leaders--African-American, Latino, white--all of whom are speaking to the values and the goals that we share in common as Americans.

BLOCK: I've read about a speech you gave in the fall of 2002. It had to do with the looming war in Iraq.

Sen. OBAMA: Right.

BLOCK: It made quite a splash. Can you tell me about that?

Sen. OBAMA: I delivered a speech to a couple of thousand people at a anti-war rally in Chicago. And I said, `It's not that I'm opposed to all wars. It's just that I think this is not the right war to fight.' I don't consider that to have been an easy decision, and certainly, I wasn't in the position to actually cast a vote on it. But what I do think is that we need a foreign policy that is less ideologically driven and pays more attention to facts on the ground.

BLOCK: This ticket, obviously, John Kerry and John Edwards, both senators voted for the war.

Sen. OBAMA: Yeah. Well--and I think that there is room for disagreement in that initial decision. Where I think we have to be unified is to recognize that we've got an enormous task ahead in actually making Iraq work. And that is going to take the kind of international cooperation that I think the Bush administration has shown difficulty pulling off, and I think that the Kerry-Edwards campaign is going to be better prepared to do.

BLOCK: I'd like to ask you just a bit about your family.

Sen. OBAMA: Uh-huh.

BLOCK: Your parents divorced when you were very young.

Sen. OBAMA: Yeah.

BLOCK: Never really knew your father.

Sen. OBAMA: You know, didn't know him well. I mean, in fact, the book that I I wrote was titled "Dreams From My Father," and I talk about the fact that I didn't meet him until I was 10 years old. You know, there's a wonderful saying by Lyndon Johnson that, you know, `Every man is either trying to live up to his father's expectations or making up for his mistakes.' And I guess I'm sort of doing both. I think, in some ways, I still chase after his ghost a little bit, but also, I think I try to balance the importance of family with my career in ways that he wasn't able to accomplish.

BLOCK: You identify yourself, though, as an African-American, even though you never knew your father.

Sen. OBAMA: Yes.

BLOCK: You were raised by your mother who is white, and her parents were white.

Sen. OBAMA: Yeah. Well, you know, I've always contended that the African-American community is, by definition, a hybrid culture. You know, we draw on all these different elements. But you know, as I've grown up in the United States, I have been identified as an African-American. I'm comfortable with that identification. I'm rooted in that culture and draw inspiration from that tradition. You know, the reason I'm here, involved in politics right now is not because I wanted to be JFK; it's because of the civil rights movement. And I think about all those nameless women marching for freedom, not taking the bus when they come home from a hard day's work doing somebody else's laundry. To me, that embodies the best of the American spirit, and that's the standard that I measure myself by.

BLOCK: Will we be hearing echoes of that theme in your speech tonight up on this stage?

Sen. OBAMA: I would hope so. You know, when I get inspired by a speech, it's not because somebody is relating heroic deeds, you know. It's tapping into the quiet moments that we all experience where ordinary people do extraordinary things.

BLOCK: We're sitting directly below the stage where you're going to be speaking tonight. It's a very different scene now than it will be when you get up there.

Sen. OBAMA: Right.

BLOCK: It's going to be thronged with people. Have you had a moment to think about how you're going to be feeling addressing that crowd?

Sen. OBAMA: You know, I'm sure I'm going to be excited, although I was here last night and something that really takes the pressure off, you realize that nobody's listening.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Sen. OBAMA: So, you know, who knows what lines I could slip in there.

BLOCK: No one would notice.

Sen. OBAMA: No one would notice. So as long as I'm smiling and waving, I think I'll be OK.

BLOCK: You're 42, first Senate run, considered a lock. You don't even have an opponent at this point, also talk of your possibly being the first African-American president. That's a lot to bear.

Sen. OBAMA: Well, you know, I think that kind of talk is silly. I haven't been elected yet. And in politics, things can change in a moment.

BLOCK: If we were to look back at your seven years in the Illinois state Senate, is there legislation that you're responsible for with national implications that you think is a harbinger of what kind of senator you would be in the Senate?

Sen. OBAMA: Well, you know, one of the things I'm proud of is all my signature legislation I was able to pass with strong bipartisan support, despite the fact that oftentimes it was considered controversial at the outset. So I passed the first-in-the-nation law mandating videotaping of interrogations and confessions in capital cases, something that it was assumed I couldn't pass even with a Democratic governor and a Democratic majority. It was thought to be too hot to handle. We ended up creating a bill that had the support not only of death penalty abolitionists, but also state prosecutors. The police went along with the bill. And we ended up passing it unanimously.

BLOCK: If you are elected in November, become a US senator, you would be the only black US senator.

Sen. OBAMA: Right.

BLOCK: Is that a special burden, special responsibility, do you think, or can you get past that in some way?

Sen. OBAMA: Well, my first responsibility is to the voters of Illinois, to all the voters who send me there. But I'm very comfortable in the role of one of many spokespersons for the concerns of the African-American community, and I'd like to be part of framing that debate. I think that it is the best of times and the worst of times for the African-American community. And one of the things that I want to make certain is that the voices of young men standing on a street corner without hope and vision for the future, that those voices are heard in the US Senate, that we feel a certain sense of urgency about a generation that we're losing. And, you know, if that's part of the contribution that I can make, then I'm happy to make it.

BLOCK: Senator Obama, thanks very much.

Sen. OBAMA: It was a pleasure.

BLOCK: That's Illinois state Senator Barack Obama, hoping to become a US senator from Illinois this fall. He'll be delivering the keynote address tonight at the Democratic National Convention at the FleetCenter in Boston.

NORRIS: Our colleague Melissa Block at the Democratic National Convention.

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