Washington, Dec. 16 : Barack Obama and Joe Biden will take a page out of American history in the second week of January, 2009, when they make their journey to Washington by train to launch the ceremonial run-up to Inauguration Day on January 20.

According to the New York Daily News, the trip along the silver rails from Philadelphia to Washington will evoke President Abraham Lincoln''s inaugural ride.

Obama began his historic presidential run in the Great Emancipator''s hometown of Springfield, Illinois, in February 2007.

Washington  - Arnold Schwarzeneggers jokes about his skinny" legs aside, Barack Obama, 47, enters the White House January 20 with the sort of political muscle and physical stamina that a US presidential campaign creates.

The presidential race usually takes 12 months. But the black senators pursuit of the presidency across 50 states nearly doubled the time as he wrestled with Senator Hillary Clinton, 61, over the Democratic nomination.

Washington  - If you don't talk about sex, you can't save lives.

But sex is complicated, and when it collides with politics and science it usually generates controversy.

Sexual and reproductive health are uncomfortable subjects - emotionally charged, morally loaded and politically sensitive - because they delve into the most intimate aspects of people's lives.

Washington  - Barack Obama ran as the candidate of change, but as he transitions toward the United States presidency many talking heads and even some supporters are beginning to wonder just what that change might actually look like.

During the long election campaign, Obama did his best to distance himself from political insiders, denouncing chief rival Hillary Clinton and later Republican opponent John McCain as more of the same old Washington politics beholden to lobbyists and other special interests.

Washington  - While he may have been elected by US voters on November 4, the process of formally naming president-elect Barack Obama to the post only began Monday.

State electors from around the country gathered in their respective state capitals to cast their ballots under the country's complex Electoral College system, officially making Obama the first African-American to capture the White House.