claim: in the illinois legislature, barack obama "voted 'present,' instead of yes or no" on seven votes involving abortion rights.
author: hillary clinton
evidence_1: dec 20, 2007 ... in 1999, barack obama was faced with a difficult vote in the illinois legislature — to support a bill that would let some juveniles be tried as adults, a position that risked .... seven other times, he voted that way as part of a broad strategy devised by abortion rights advocates to counter anti-abortion bills.
evidence_2: jan 23, 2008 ... illinois sen. barack obama has been criticized by his democratic rivals for voting "present," rather than a more definitive "yes" or "no," when he was a state ... she says obama voted "present" at least seven times to provide cover to other abortion-rights supporters on such bills as the "born alive infant ...
evidence_3: mar 28, 2008 ... hoping to put to rest once and for all the claim that he was not a strong enough supporter of abortion rights during his tenure in the illinois state sen. ... voting “present” is a legislative maneuver in illinois employed by lawmakers to register opposition to a proposal, without being on the record with a “yes” or ...
evidence_4: feb 6, 2008 ... under the rules of the illinois legislature, a present vote effectively functions as a no vote because only yes votes count toward passage of a bill. legislators vote "present" rather than "no" for a variety of tactical reasons, including making it more difficult for their political opponents to use their votes against ...
evidence_5: the united states senate career of barack obama began on january 3, 2005 and ended on november 16, 2008. he resigned his seat in the u.s. senate upon being elected president of the united states. obama won the seat in an election against alan keyes who replaced republican primary election winner jack ryan.