Sen. Barack Obama, according to the records, voted "present" more than 125 times during his eight years as a state senator. His voting performance prompted Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, his rival during the Democratic primary campaign, to suggest on the campaign trail that Mr. Obama was a "talker rather than a doer."

At one point, Clinton campaign launched a Web site known as votingpresent to criticize Mr. Obama, portraying the Illinois Democrat as cowardly in opting to vote present when it came to contentious legislation.

"I don't think people want a lot of talk about change," Mrs. Clinton said during a December campaign trip through Iowa. "I think they want someone with a real record - a doer, not a talker. After eight years of incompetence, they don't want false hope; they want real results."

It was neither the first nor the last time Mrs. Clinton would question Mr. Obama's record as an Illinois senator or to suggest that the numerous present votes showed that he was a man of words, not action.