Barack Obama's grandmother, whose personality and bearing shaped much of the life of the Democratic presidential contender, has died, Obama announced Monday, one day before the election. Madelyn Payne Dunham was 86. ...more

November 3, 2008

Barack Obama, briefly a grandson instead of a candidate, spent some quiet family time Friday with the ailing woman who helped raise him, while reporters, guards and gawkers waited outside her apartment building. ...more

October 25, 2008

Despite the attention to the men who have influenced Barack Obama, from his inconstant Kenyan father to his fiery former pastor, a woman did the most to mold him. ...more

October 19, 2008

Barack Obama is a dedicated feminist who "lives surrounded by women," his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, told a mostly female crowd at a Women For Obama event in downtown Tampa on Thursday. ...more

July 18, 2008

CHICAGO (AP) - It was a Wednesday night ritual for Barack Obama: After a day of debating taxes, the death penalty or some other divisive issue, he'd head to a meeting of "The Committee." Lawmakers and lobbyists, Democrats and Republicans alike, would put their politics on hold and gather for ... their weekly poker game. ...more

December 29, 2007