Mr Snelling, 44, of Maraylya, and manager of the Powerhouse Discovery Centre at Castle Hill, went to school in the 1970s with Obama in Hawaii, where he lived for 12 years.

``My family moved to the States when I was 13 dad was a semi-retired architect and we lived in Honolulu and I went to the private Punahou Academy. I was in year 9 and Obama was a year ahead of me,'' Mr Snelling said.

``I have followed his career for 18 months with more than a modicum of interest since discovering that the Barry Obama I knew at school was the same Barack Obama that came from nowhere to tackle Hilary Clinton.''

Obama his father was Kenyan, his mother from Kansas, the US was raised in Hawaii and Indonesia. Obama's white mother and the black father he barely knew were divorced and he spent most of his time living with his grandparents in Honolulu.

Mr Snelling who was in the same class at the elite school of 3000 students as the actor Jack Nicholson's daughter knew Obama quite well, though the two weren't extremely close.

``We had lots of social interaction at school. He was quiet, very considered, super smart, well read, pretty engaged and was a good basketballer.''

So good, in fact, he was named Barry ``O'bomber'' for his jump shots.

``A mutually close friend is working on Barack's campaign and I get texts from her about various things every second day. If he becomes President I'm determined to try and meet up with him again,'' Mr Snelling said.

``I've been really impressed with his journey through life.''

So have most Australians. In a Lowy Institute poll of 1001 people taken in July, almost three-quarters of those surveyed want Obama to win the US presidential election, while only 16 per cent favour Senator McCain.

Would Obama make a good leader?

``That's a tough question,'' Mr Snelling said. ``America needs a change so perhaps it's time for a black president. But he has no experience though and that's the question mark.''