Obama Played Hardball Early

Barack Obama showed his acumen for sharp-elbowed politics early on, according to a report in the Tribune. The 2008 hopeful, famous for his affable and earnest optimism, launched his career in an old-fashioned Chicagoan way,  by pushing a former political mentor off a ballot, He won "not by leveling the playing field, but by clearing it," the report says.

Alice Palmer, a South-Side Democrat, appointed Obama heir apparent to her state senate seat; when the two found themselves seeking the same nomination, Obama challenged her signatures, successfully purging her, and three other competitors, from the ballot.  Remembering the incident, Obama is elegantly evasive: "If you can win, you should win and get to work doing the people's business." (More Barack Obama stories.)