145;We stand here as one people146;

Barack Obama, a state legislator from Chicago8217;s South Side, who rose to rock-star status after a stirring keynote speech at the Democra...

Barack Obama, a state legislator from Chicago8217;s South Side, who rose to rock-star status after a stirring keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, became the third African-American since Reconstruction to be elected to the US Senate.

Obama, 43, and his wife, Michelle, addressed a racially diverse throng of supporters at the victory bash at a downtown Chicago hotel, a far more elaborate affair than when Obama announced his long-shot bid more than a year ago. 8216;8216;We believe in the possibility of a government that is as just and decent as our people are,8217;8217; Obama said. 8216;8216;We stand here as one people, as one nation, proclaiming ourselves to be one America, with the capacity to work together to create a better future for ourselves.8217;8217;

In January, Obama will be sworn in as the occupant of the same Senate seat that Carol Moseley Braun, the chamber8217;s last African-American and another Chicagoan, held from 1993 to 1999. Obama trounced Alan L. Keyes, a Black Republican who moved from Maryland to replace the White nominee who withdrew after a sex scandal.

8216;8216;They minority candidates are able to deliver speeches on the floor rarely heard8230;Obama is smart and he is eloquent8230;that can make the difference in a body that depends on that kind of argument in public policy issues,8217;8217; said Ronald Walters, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland.

If Cuban-American and Republican Mel Martinez in Florida wins, said Karen Kaufmann, also a University of Maryland professor, Republicans could quickly vault him to a position of influence. Democrats could do likewise with Obama. 8216;8216;But Martinez won8217;t have a large appeal to the largely Democratic Mexican community..So I think it will be sort of what the Republicans did with Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. They gave them important jobs, but you still don8217;t see African-Americans running to the Republicans.8217;8217;