Chicago Sun-Times Washington bureau chief Lynn Sweet and Salim Muwakkil, senior editor of In These Times, discuss how Obama rose from a community organizer in Illinois to a state legislator to a Senator to a presidential candidate. [includes rush transcript]

Of the ten candidates now in the Democratic presidential field, none have attracted more recent controversy than Senator Barack Obama. But that controversy has been unique -- and perhaps unprecedented -- for one reason: almost without exception, Obama didn't do anything to start it.

Just days after he entered the presidential race, Fox News picked up a false story that Obama attended an Islamic Madrassa school as a child in Indonesia. CNN was earlier forced to apologize after displaying an image that listed Osama bin Laden's first name as “Obama.” Pundits have spoken at length over whether Obama's middle name Hussein will be a political liability. And last week, Senator Joseph Biden attracted widespread criticism after calling Obama “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

Obama has also gotten some welcome attention. He's been profiled in lengthy articles in several major publications -- the New York Times, the Washington Post, cover articles in both Time and Newsweek. But amidst all the controversy and the attention, very little has been said about Obama's stance on the issues.

Today we try to undo the spin with two guests. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet has been closely following Obama's political career. She joins us from Washington, DC where she's also the Chicago Sun-Times' Bureau Chief. And Salim Muwakkil is on the phone with us from Chicago. He's senior editor of In These Times and a weekly op-ed columnist for the Chicago Tribune. His latest piece is called “Barack's Black Dilemma” and it's online at InTheseTimes.com.

• Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times columnist and D.C Bureau Chief.
• Salim Muwakkil, Senior editor of In These Times and a weekly op-ed columnist for the Chicago Tribune. He is currently a Crime and Communities Media Fellow of the Open Society Institute.