Barack Obama 2008 presidential primary campaign and urged supporters to back Obama. Barack Obama 2008 presidential primary campaign On February 10, 2007, Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois. On June 3, 2008, he secured enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election. He was the first African-American in American History to be nominated by a major party. On November 4, 2008, Obama won the presidential election to become the 44th President of the United States, succeeding George W. Bush. Obama announced his
Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories During Barack Obama's campaign for president in 2008, throughout his presidency, and afterwards, a number of conspiracy theories falsely asserted Obama was ineligible to be President of the United States because he was not a natural-born citizen of the U.S. as required by . Theories alleged that Obama's published birth certificate was a forgery—that his actual birthplace was not Hawaii but Kenya. Other theories alleged that Obama became a citizen of Indonesia in childhood, thereby losing his U.S. citizenship. Still others claimed that Obama was not a natural-born U.S. citizen because he was born a