Who will be the next president?

BARACK OBAMA
In 2004 Barack Obama was a little-known state senator from Illinois. The political newcomer had only been in politics for eight years, but was already making a name for himself in the party.

And then came the speech.

In what might be the best-remembered and most-talked-about speech this decade, a rising star in the Democratic Party addressed the Democratic National Convention with one message: hope.

A political hero was born.

The central theme of Obama’s speech, called “The Audacity of Hope,” was the story of his life, of his parents’ and grandparents’ lives, of race and riots, of ambition and – most importantly – of hope.

FULL STORY: The campaign machine

JOHN MCCAIN
“Hope” means something different for John McCain.

It means surviving five years as a prisoner of war and fighting cancer. After a failed campaign in 2000, it means the chance of winning in 2008.

All of these are things the Republican presidential nominee has hoped for, and only one has not yet worked in his favor.

John Karaagac, a lecturer in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU who wrote “John McCain: An Essay in Military and Political History” in 2000, has studied both McCain’s political and military lives. But Karaagac was doubtful McCain would win the 2008 primary. Yet, staying true to his fighting nature, McCain won.

“I think he’s much more the come-from-behind story than Barack Obama,” Karaagac said. “There’s a tension in McCain’s life. I think he is both a kind of rebel but very much a team player at the same time.”

FULL STORY: The rise of John McCain