Just four years after resigning from the Illinois Senate, Barack Obama was elected to the nation's highest office.

While Obama prepares to move into the White House, former Senate colleagues recalled their impressions of the young, eloquent man who traveled to Springfield to represent his South Side Chicago district.

Obama first captured the seat in the 13th District in the 1996 election, after successfully challenging the ballot petitions of his four Democratic rivals in the primary, including incumbent Alice Palmer.

Obama declared his interest in the seat in 1995, when Palmer became a candidate for Mel Reynolds' seat as U.S. representative in a special election. Reynolds had resigned after he was charged with the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl. Palmer lost her bid for Congress, but Obama discovered enough fake signatures on her petitions to remove her from contention for the state Senate seat.

State Sen. Frank Watson, R-Greenville, was head of the Senate's education committee and assistant leader of the majority party when Obama entered the body as a 35-year-old freshman.

"The first time I met the man, he came over and said, 'I want to do something and help you in education,' " said Watson, in a phone interview from Florida, where he is rehabilitating from a recent stroke. "I was taken aback by that, because that wasn't normal. We didn't experience the interest in issues that he expressed."

Freshly minted senators typically would focus on their own committee assignments and try to connect with members of their own party.

"I remember saying to my seatmate, 'Can you believe it?' It was unusual to cross the aisle," said Watson, who has served in the Senate since 1982. "He was a freshman, the new kid on the block, and he showed that kind of interest. I thought it was a good quality. He showed a lot of aggression for education issues."

When Obama spoke, senators listened.

"He was obviously very bright and articulate," Watson said. "He was overeducated for the General Assembly, as we know now. He spoke very eloquently on the floor."

While Watson frequently disagreed with Obama on policy, the two senators showed each other much respect. While running for the U.S. Senate in 2004, Obama spoke at Watson's Drugstore in Greenville, then owned by Frank Watson. Once again, he showed his bipartisan spirit.

"He made some comments on me," Watson said. "He was very complimentary."

Watson, coach of the Senate softball team when Obama entered the chamber, recalled that his athletic ability was not evident at that time, at least not on the diamond.

"He wasn't good enough to make the team," Watson said. "He came out one year, and he never participated again."

N. Duane Noland, a Blue Mound Republican who represented Decatur, served in the Senate with Obama from 1999 to 2003. Noland recalled that Obama distinguished himself because of his intelligence, eloquence and dignified persona.

"A typical politician is very outgoing," Noland said, adding that many are given to backslapping and handshaking. "He seemed more refined and dignified in his demeanor. He had a certain kind of aura. Almost a little reserved, like he was still getting his feet under him in the Senate, trying to figure where his path was there. Some people just take to it, and it's show time. They love the pomp and all the glitz. He was still trying to figure out if this was the right place. Some politicians are always looking for the next rung. He was gauging where he would be next."

Although his party was outnumbered, he did not hesitate to speak out on the issues, honing his speaking skills.

"People were aware of his academic background, that he was a Harvard graduate," Noland said. "People would often listen to him debate because he had a strong command of his speaking style. People did pay attention when he spoke on the Senate floor. At that time the Democrats were in the minority, so he was often speaking in vain. The Republicans were in the majority from 1993 to 2003."

Noland said Obama, who lived mostly in large cities, was curious about rural issues.

"He was interested in agriculture but had limited understanding," Noland said.

One time, Noland was talking to a group about harvesting crops, and Obama questioned him about his family farm.

"I said we actually live on a farm, and we keep machinery," Noland said. "He found that very intriguing, to hear about modern agriculture."

Noland said he was impressed that Obama, who was not well-connected to the powerful Chicago political families, could rise so quickly to higher office.

"I had no idea he was heading to the U.S. Senate or the presidency so quickly. It was obvious that he was talented and articulate and ambitious, because he had run for Congress four or five years earlier and had been defeated. But there weren't many in the Senate chamber in 2002 that thought he would easily win a U.S. Senate seat and become president."

A state senator since 2002, Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, played poker with Obama, often on Wednesday nights when the legislature was in session. There were usually about 10 or 12 players.

"We all played socially, as well as competitively," Brady said. "He knew how to play cards, let's put it that way. Sometimes you could read him. Sometimes you could tell if he was bluffing. Sometimes you couldn't.

"He and I differed dramatically on public policy and the issues. I would kid him: 'If you were half as conservative with the public money as you are with your poker money, the state would be better off.' "

State Sen. Michael Frerichs, D-Champaign, did not think much of Obama in 2000, when his girlfriend invited him to the Palmer House in Chicago to attend the announcement that he was running for Congress.

"I was cynical at first. I told her, 'You want me to see this guy with no chance of winning, this guy with a funny name?' " Frerichs said.

While Frerichs' assessment on Obama's chances of taking Bobby Rush's seat was dead-on, his opinion of Obama turned around.

"I went from being a complete cynic to thinking: He may not win this race, but he has a great future. I was impressed with the way he connected with people, excited people, energized them. He just seemed very genuine. He was very down to earth."

Frerichs, who won a seat on the Champaign County Board in 2000, kept in touch with Obama. In 2002, Frerichs heard that Obama was considering running for the U.S. Senate, when the candidate and his intentions were largely unknown. Seeing Obama standing alone at the state fair on Democrat Day that summer, Frerichs approached him, offering his support. Two months later, Frerichs convinced the county party chairman to invite Obama as the keynote speaker for the fall party dinner.

"I was one of the first elected officials downstate to endorse Barack Obama," Frerichs said, adding that he led the charge for 33 Champaign County leaders to endorse him for U.S. Senate. Obama took the county by a large margin in the primary.

When Frerichs ran for state Senate in 2006, U.S. Sen. Obama endorsed him in a speech in Danville.

Frerichs, who worked for Obama's presidential candidacy in four states, including the Iowa primary, is planning to attend at least six balls and other inaugural events in Washington next week. He will be accompanied by his wife, Laura, who first told him about the rising star almost nine years ago.

"I feel like that person who bought Microsoft stock in 1980," Frerichs said. "Most didn't invest because they never heard of it. I told people in 2002 and 2003 (about Obama), and they said, 'He is low in the polls, and he can't win.' It was pretty much the same thing for the presidency. They said, 'The guy can't win; you've made a mistake.'"

hfreeman@herald-review.com|421-6985