April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was up late, laboring over his speech on race relations, when one of his best friends decided he could use a distraction.
``I heard a funny story about a friend of ours and I sent him an e-mail and I cryptically described it,'' recalled Valerie Jarrett in an interview. ``Within five minutes, he called and he wanted the details.''
Jarrett's easy intimacy with both Obama, 46, and his wife, Michelle, has helped place her among his most important advisers. She brings to his campaign a background as one of the most powerful women in Chicago, where she was chairman of the Chicago Stock Exchange and served as city commissioner of planning and development. She currently sits on several boards, including that of USG Corp., a maker of building materials.
Jarrett, 51, a constant, behind-the-scenes presence on the campaign trail, has the Obamas' trust and attention, said William Daley, an adviser to the candidate and former commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton.
``I'd be pretty hard-pressed to think of somebody above her ability to impact major judgments,'' Daley said of Jarrett, an unpaid senior adviser to the campaign.
Her relationship with the Obamas dates back to 1991, when she hired Michelle to work for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, William Daley's brother. She grew close to Barack and has been a central participant in his meteoric political rise.
Always There
There has ``never been a time I needed him, and he hasn't been there for me as a friend,'' she said of the Illinois senator and front-runner for the Democratic nomination.
Jarrett has been there for Obama as well: she was ``politically astute'' as finance chairman during his 2004 campaign for the Senate, said Vernon Jordan, a longtime Clinton supporter who's married to a cousin of Jarrett's. Obama, said Jordan, ``is lucky to have her by his side.''
Jarrett, chief executive officer of Habitat Co., a Chicago real estate development firm, is part of a cadre of women who serve in the top echelon of the Obama organization. They include finance chairman Penny Pritzker, the billionaire CEO of Pritzker Realty Group LP, finance director Julianna Smoot, Chief Operating Officer Betsy Myers and policy director Heather Higginbottom.
``There are major operations in this campaign that are run by women, and they may be the best-run operations in this campaign,'' said David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist.
Some Resentment
The feminist tilt to Obama's organization is sometimes overshadowed because he's running against Hillary Clinton. Some backers of the New York senator resent Obama for hurting the chances of the most formidable female presidential candidate in history.
Feminist Gloria Steinem wrote in the New York Times in January that Obama's resume wouldn't have qualified him to run for president were he a woman. ``Gender,'' she wrote, ``is probably the most restricting force in American life.''
Some older women feel it's their last chance to elect a woman and are thinking ``wouldn't you know it'd have to be a young guy,'' said pollster John Zogby.
Christie Hefner, 55, CEO of Playboy Enterprises and an Obama supporter, argues that women shouldn't distinguish between him and Clinton based solely on feminist credentials.
Obama, who has gotten a 100 percent rating from Naral Pro- Choice America for the past three years, is sensitive to women's issues, said Hefner, who helped found Emily's List, a group devoted to electing pro-choice Democratic women that has endorsed Clinton.
Get To Know Him
Jarrett said any hard feelings among women will soften once voters get to know Obama better.
``One of the challenges of the campaign, of course, is to introduce him to the American people so they can see what the women around him know,'' she said.
Jarrett, who is black, was born in Shiraz, Iran, and spent part of her childhood in London with her parents before moving to Chicago, where she grew up on the South Side. Her father is professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Medical Center and her mother is a former president of Erikson Institute, a graduate school in early childhood development.
Jarrett earned an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of Michigan. She's chaired the Chicago Transit board and the Chicago Stock Exchange, and until last year served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
`Real-Life Stuff'
Her experiences are ``all real-life stuff -- you've got economics, transportation, all these issues; that is a rare toolbox,'' said Mellody Hobson, a member of the campaign's national finance committee and president of Chicago-based Ariel Capital Management LLC, which oversees $11 billion.
Friends and advisers say Jarrett is a powerful voice in the campaign -- attending strategy sessions with the candidate, serving as a sounding board for both Obama and people offering advice, and playing a key role on conference calls.
``She might not be the person who is technically running the call,'' said Eric Holder, a campaign co-chairman who was a deputy U.S. attorney general under President Clinton. Yet ``when you hear Valerie's voice, things tend to get quiet.''
Jarrett makes Obama feel grounded on a campaign trail where he's away from home, said Les Coney, a member of the campaign's finance committee and executive vice president of Mesirow Financial Inc. in Chicago. ``Valerie has been like having your sister right there,'' he said.
Personal Touch
Her clout ranges from providing counsel on major policy issues, which neither she nor the campaign would discuss as a matter of practice, to the personal touch.
The night of Obama's Jan. 26 South Carolina primary win, he stopped to say goodbye to a small room of friends and supporters before a flight to Georgia.
Jarrett, recounted friend Susan Sher, vice president and general counsel of the University of Chicago Medical Center, told Obama he needed to first see his staff at the South Carolina campaign headquarters. He agreed.
``There's no point in being there if I'm just going to tell him what he wants to hear,'' Jarrett said. ``There are plenty of people who will do that for him.''
On issues, Jarrett says she opposes the Iraq War, believes U.S. companies have to compete in a global market and that government regulation is needed to ensure corporate transparency and accountability.
When told those positions sound very similar to those of Obama, she laughingly replied, ``Good.''
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