In 2000, Barack Obama, then a state senator, sat down with his two Democratic opponents in a race for the 1st Congressional District in Illinois and described himself as a "progressive urban Democrat."
In an appearance on WTTW's "Chicago Tonight," clipped above via BuzzFeed, Obama debated his two rivals, incumbent Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush -- who would go on to win re-election and hand Obama his lone electoral loss -- and fellow state Sen. Donne Trotter, and claimed he shared "most views" with them.
It's interesting to see Obama's political metamorphosis from proud, progressive "community organizer" -- a term that has since been adopted by his opposition as an insult -- to a president who has led the country, as political scientist Keith Poole calculates, as "the most moderate Democratic president since the end of World War II."
Click over to BuzzFeed for more of Obama's radio ads from the campaign that The New York Times characterized as his one "glaring episode of political miscalculation."
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