Join the Senate, see the world (on the taxpayer's dime)

    Barack Obama's two years in the Senate have taken him around the world, from Russia to Iraq to Kenya _ an itinerary more costly to taxpayers than any other senator who took office with him.

    The Illinois Democrat's travels in 2005 and 2006 cost taxpayers nearly $28,000 as he studied nuclear proliferation, AIDS, Middle Eastern violence and more.

    Eight other freshmen senators took office in 2005, and about $19,200 was the most anyone spent for government-paid travel, according to reports filed with the Senate Office of Public Records.

    Obama's journeys are unusual for such a junior senator