Senator Barack Obama often talks about his church, the Trinity Church of Christ in Chicago, on the campaign trail. Normally he refers to the church to assure voters that he is Christian, not Muslim, a notion that has plagued the candidate along the campaign trail. Typically Obama says he has attended the church for 20 years and if one were to go, they’d find a “very conventional African American church” where you would hear gospel music and “people preaching about Jesus.” In Ohio just a few days ago, Obama told voters, “You would feel at home if you were there.”

Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright, who until just a couple weeks ago presided over Trinity’s congregation, officiated Senator and Mrs. Obama’s wedding and baptized their two daughters. In his first book, Dreams from My Father, Obama wrote the pastor had great influence over him in the 1990s, and it was Wright who delivered a sermon entitled “The Audacity of Hope,” which had such an impact on Obama, that he chose to use the phrase as the title of his second book. And, of course, hope continues to be a main theme of the Obama campaign.

But Obama’s pastor has also been a lightning rod for controversy. For starters, Wright’s relationship with Louis Farrakhan, one described as “close” by Senator Obama, has been of concern to many in the Jewish community.

On February 24th, Obama spoke to the Cleveland Jewish Community Leaders group, where he was asked about Wright. Obama noted the pastor occasionally was known to “say controversial things,” adding most of those controversial statements were “directed at the African American community.” Barely a week later, he explained why Wright said things that are considered controversial. “Because he’s considered that part of his social gospel. He was one of the leaders in calling for divestment from South Africa and some other issues like that, and he thinks it’s important for us to focus on what’s happening in Africa, and I agree with him on that.”

Obama assured the Ohio Jewish leaders, “I have never heard an anti-Semitic [statement] made inside of our church. I have never heard anything that would suggest anti-Semitism on part of the Pastor. He is like an old uncle who sometimes will say things that I don’t agree with. And I suspect there are some of the people in this room who have heard relatives say some things that they don’t agree with.” He added, “My pastor is going to be retiring over the next month. So my general view, and the reason that I raise this, this is always a sensitive point, what you don’t want to do is distance yourself or kick somebody away, because you are now running for President and you are worried about perceptions, particularly when someone is basically winding down their life and their career.”

But the controversy hasn’t gone away - it’s now bigger and extends beyond the Jewish community. In some of his sermons, Wright has said some pretty shocking things, including inflammatory remarks about both rival Hillary Clinton and the United States, as revealed by FOX News and other networks.

A campaign spokesman issued a statement to reporters, reading, “Senator Obama has said before that he profoundly disagrees with some of the statements and positions of Reverend Wright, who has preached his last sermon as pastor at the church. Senator Obama deplores divisive statements whether they come from his supporters, the supporters of his opponent, talk radio, or anywhere else.”

The story only grew, and so Senator Obama responded with an Op-Ed on the Huffington Post blog site this afternoon, taking a harder stance against his longtime pastor, and clearly hoping this will be the end of the controversy.

Obama said he “vehemently disagreed” with the statements currently in the spotlight. Obama wrote Rev. Wright “has never been my political advisor; he’s been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn. The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation.”

The campaign can’t remember when Obama last attended Trinity, but said it had been “months.” Obama wrote that he would continue a relationship with his church under the care of its new pastor, Otis Moss, III, who took over just last weekend. “While Rev. Wright’s statements have pained and angered me, I believe that Americans will judge me not on the basis of what someone else said, but on the basis of who I am and what I believe in; on my values, judgment and experience to be President of the United States,” Obama concluded.

As he walked away from the ballot box at a Chicago elementary school this afternoon, Barack Obama joked to reporters, “It was close, but in the end I went for Obama.” The senator and his wife Michelle stayed at the polling place in the Hyde Park neighborhood for nearly a half an hour after voting, where they greeted students and teachers, poll workers, and other voters as a gaggle or reporters looked on, trying to get his attention.

When he ambled over to the waiting journalists who had set up microphones, he stressed he had time to take just two questions. The senator had a slew of satellite television and radio interviews to do this afternoon - and he squeezed in a game of basketball at Chicago’s East Bank Club. The candidate has something of a tradition of playing games on  caucus and primary days with staff and Secret Service.

Obama was asked to anticipate today’s outcome, as Super Tuesday is traditionally the day that decides a party’s nominee for president. But probably not this year. “I think everybody is flying blind on this one,” he responded.

When the primaries were “one state at a time we could actually track and get a sense of how the election and turnout was going. Here we’ve got 22 states and noody can keep track of it. What we know, though, is that the last couple weeks we’ve seen tremendous excitement,” he explained.
He then added, “My guess is we’ll have a good night.”

Watch Obama vote here:

Later at a “pen and pad” briefing in the press file adjacent to the site of Obama’s rally tonight, Campaign Manager David Plouffe said as long as it’s close in terms of pledged delegate support, it will be a successful night for Team Obama. They don’t expect to win more states or delegates than Senator Clinton, but look for it to be closer than thought just weeks ago. If they can get by without a severe loss, the Obama campaign would regain a sense of confidence because “we get to states in smaller bite sizes, two or three on a day, where we think we can actually get in there and campaign and have the focus be a little bit more intensive,” Plouffe explained.

But stay tuned. Plouffe stated that anything is possible on Super Tuesday. “Who knows what could happen tonight, there could be some surprises on their side too,” he said.