(CNN)  -- The cool of Barack Obama was very much on display on a warm day in Boston's Christopher Columbus Park during the summer of 2004.

John Kerry, right, and Obama confer at the 2004 DNC, where Obama wowed the crowd with his keynote address.

It was going to be a big day for the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate from Illinois.

In a few hours, on that night, July 27, 2004, he was to give the keynote address to the Democratic National Convention at the Fleet Center about a mile away. But as he gave a lunchtime speech on environmental policy to a leisurely crowd of about 100 people at the green space on Boston Harbor, he was relaxed and loose, seemingly unconcerned about what was ahead.

Taking notes amid the crowd, I hoped to get a few minutes with the candidate.

I'd been told about his vaunted charisma -- my two brothers, both of whom live in Chicago, had mentioned his oratorical gifts -- but in person Obama seemed familiar, even a touch wonky, as he talked about asthma rates and the Bush administration's environmental record.

I chatted with Obama's press attachÃ© and with a Chicago Tribune reporter, David Mendell, as the speech wound down, and was offered a ride in a nondescript minivan back to the Fleet Center.

Even then Obama was attracting attention; several members of the audience gave him enthusiastic greetings as he left the scene to get in the van.

In the front passenger seat of the van, the rail-thin Obama, obviously hungry (he later told me he'd lost eight pounds since the beginning of the campaign), chewed on a sandwich and joked with the other passengers as I peppered him with questions during the 20-minute ride.

He answered with deliberate thoughtfulness, though he'd probably heard at least a few of them dozens of times already.

Was he worried about the speech, the kind of spotlight that had made political leaders including William Jennings Bryan, Mario Cuomo and Ann Richards national figures?

"There's going to be some adrenaline," he said, after taking off his tie and unbuttoning his white dress shirt. "But the pressure I'm experiencing is nothing compared to folks I'm meeting getting laid off. ... That's real pressure."

And what about the Senate race? Illinois Republicans were in disarray and better-known, better-funded candidates had fallen by the wayside, with Obama seemingly now a sure thing for the seat.

"Three months is a lifetime in politics," Obama replied.

By now, Obama's rise is well known: the son of a Kenyan father and Kansas mother, raised in Indonesia and Hawaii, community organizer, Harvard Law Review editor, author, law instructor, politician. He's been astutely revealing in his books, notably his 1995 memoir "Dreams From My Father," and his presidential campaign has reflected his demeanor.

But none of it was foreordained. In the fall of 2003, when he was still an Illinois state senator, he was one of seven candidates running for Peter Fitzgerald's vacated U.S. Senate seat. One of his opponents was a multimillionaire; another was the Illinois state controller. Obama was unknown and underfunded.

"I remember asking [at one event], 'Where is he?' " Mendell recalled at the Boston rally. "And somebody said, 'He's parking the car.' "

Mendell's description of Obama's 2004 race offers echoes of his painstaking, grassroots 2008 campaign. Obama had some good luck: The multimillionaire, Blair Hull, had details of his ugly divorce come out during the campaign. But Obama's success was also a tribute to his meticulous resolve.

"He ran a really smart primary campaign," Mendell said. "He waited until the ninth inning to score all his runs. ... It was masterfully done." Mendell later wrote a book on Obama, "Obama: From Promise to Power."

Not even Obama knows for sure how he landed the keynote slot. In his 2006 book,
What did John Kerry take a chance on? What did Obama's keynote do? Where was Obama heading to when the writer rode with him? Who rode with Obama on his way to  give keynote address? Why did Obama say he was calm? What did  Obama's keynote emphasize?
Barack Obama wowed the crowd Democratic National Convention at the Fleet Center about a mile away. John Kerry, pressure I'm experiencing is nothing compared to folks I'm meeting getting laid off. environmental policy
question: What did John Kerry take a chance on?, answer: Barack Obama | question: What did Obama's keynote do?, answer: wowed the crowd | question: Where was Obama heading to when the writer rode with him?, answer: Democratic National Convention at the Fleet Center about a mile away. | question: Who rode with Obama on his way to  give keynote address?, answer: John Kerry, | question: Why did Obama say he was calm?, answer: pressure I'm experiencing is nothing compared to folks I'm meeting getting laid off. | question: What did  Obama's keynote emphasize?, answer: environmental policy