Setting Sights on the White House, Michelle Obama Puts Career on Hold

MANCHESTER, N.H., April 6, 2007 — -- The main room in Obama for America headquarters was already buzzing with excitement after news broke that the junior-senator-from-Illinois-turned-presidential-prospect had raised $25 million dollars in just three months.

But the attention quickly turned to the 5-foot-11-inch beauty strolling into the room with the body of a basketball player and the poise of a ballet dancer.

Wearing all black and a single strand of over-size pearls, Michelle Obama took the microphone, marking her first trip to New Hampshire, home to the nation's first presidential primary.

On the campaign stump for her husband, standing before a group of 150 mostly women voters, Michelle Obama began to tell her and her husband's love story.

Calling him a "hot shot" law student, Obama recounted how she was assigned to be her would-be suitor's summer coordinator when she was an associate at Sidley Austin law firm.

Admitting some trepidation about his background, she joked, "Any black guy who spent his formative years on an island is weird," referring to her future husband's upbringing in Hawaii.

Despite her initial concerns, she said that over their first lunch she knew not only that he was "cute, and that helped," but that he was special. She was impressed by his perseverance and consistency, and it mattered to her that he placed the highest importance on family and community.

Michelle Obama said she married her husband because of their shared values, and that also just so happens to be why she's so supporting his run for the White House.

"I know Barack has the values. It's much less important to know what senators have been in Washington for 'X' amount of years and checked off boxes in their career path," she said. "Barack is not one to check off boxes."

The 43-year-old career woman talked about her role in the campaign saying, "I'm not only a surrogate for Barack, but I'm also a surrogate ear to listen."