143 days of experience... Examining Barack Obama.

The chain mail claiming that Barack Obama only had 143 days of REAL experience before forming his presidential exploratory committee is all over the internet. You wanna know the REAL story? Here ya go...

Here are some facts and links to sources. Read them and form your own opinion.

1) Cheri Jacobus posted her article on The Loft, the blog for GOPUSA, on May 5, 2008 :
www.gopusa.com/theloft/?p=707

2) Barack Obama took the oath of office for the Senate on January 4, 2005:
www.obama.senate.gov/about/

3) Barack Obama announced his presidential exploratory committee on January 16, 2007:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16652674/

4) Barack Obama made his formal announcement speech on February 10, 2007:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IHvOYY6feI

5) The US Senate was in session for the following number of days since Barack Obama took office:
2005 - 136 days
2006 - 136 days
2007 - 180 days
2008 - 136 days as of Sept 12

That is definitely 143 days of experience, many times over in fact. Not to mention his six years in the Illinois State Senate, and his decade of work as a lawyer specializing in constitutional law.

Nice try, though.