Why is Barack Obama generating more excitement among Democrats than John Kerry?

He has earned a reputation as a show horse and a workhorse -- apt to take a visible role in high-profile issues causing anxiety in suburbia, but equally willing to work doggedly to forge compromises on serious legislation. And he hasn't shied away from potentially polarizing racial issues; he helped to pass an important law to address racial profiling in Illinois. Obama has transcended the strictly racial identity often forced on— or embraced by —black officials.