*** UPDATE *** Obama has apparently announced, although the Trib story has no details. More in a bit.
In an announcement weighted with history and moment, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who less than three years ago was serving in Illinois state senate, declared today his intention to run for president.
Sources close to Sen. Barak Obama have told NBC5’s Mary Ann Ahern that the senator will be filing the necessary paperwork Tuesday to begin a presidential campaign.
Ahern said Obama will file papers with the Federal Election Commission in Washington, D.C.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Press release just issued:
U.S. Senator Barack Obama today filed papers with the Federal Election Commission establishing the “Obama Exploratory Committee.” A formal announcement of his decision will occur on February 10th in Illinois.
*** UPDATE 10 *** Lynn Sweet had this post earlier today.
Supporters of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) are being told this morning there will be an 11 a.m. Chicago time conference call. Expected to be discussed is Obama filing papers to officially launch his 2008 White House run. Obama is expected to hit the road to travel to early primary states in the coming days.
The call is being organized by Nate Tamarin, who was the political director for Obama’s Washington D.C. based political action committee the Hope Fund. He now works with Pete Giangreco, the founder of the Strategy Group in Evanston, expected to handle Obama’s direct mail in the 2008 campaign.
*** UPDATE 11 *** I’ve created a special news feed on the announcement:
*** UPDATE 12 *** Thanks to Larry, I figured out how to embed the second video I referenced above.
*** UPDATE 14 *** Marc Sandalow at the San Francisco Gate’s blog makes some good points:
For a party which lost consecutive elections to George W. Bush by promoting well-known, well-regarded, and wooden speakers, Obama’s rhetorical skills alone will be hard to resist. […]
Will Americans elect a black man president? It boggles the mind that Obama is only the third African American elected to the Senate since reconstruction. Polls suggest the country is ready, but this is the sort of question where people lie to pollsters.
At 45, Obama is roughly the same age as Bill Clinton when he sought the presidency. But Clinton had served four terms as governor and one as attorney general. George Bush had served just six years as governor. But that was before Sept. 11. Is America ready to entrust its national security to a candidate whose experience amounts to two years service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee?
The widely anticipated showdown between U.S. Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries next year is forcing Chicago’s top Democratic donors to choose between an old friend and a favorite son. […]
“It’s overwhelmingly going to be for Barack,” says Rep. [Rahm] Emanuel. “Overwhelmingly!”
*** UPDATE 16 *** There’s been some discussion in comments here and over at The Hotline blog about why Obama chose to announce on Saturday, Feb. 10. An aide to Obama e-mailed me the reason for a Saturday announcment is the “likelihood that US Senate would be voting” on Friday. “We’ve been told they could vote up til noon on Friday.”
I’m still kinda wondering why a Saturday and not, say, a Sunday, the usual day for stuff like this.
*** UPDATE 17 *** The Hotline blog noted that February 10th is two days before Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Rep. John Fritchey participated in this morning’s conference call and fills us in on more details, including that the announcement will be held in Springfield.
He told the group that he and his family are eager for what the future may hold. He spoke of making an announcement February 10 in Springfield, and of the desire to focus on a grassroots campaign fueled by ‘excitement’ and the ’sense of possibility’.
Mayor Daley said Tuesday he’s “excited†Barack Obama has taken the first official step toward the White House and left no doubt about his plan to endorse Illinois’ favorite son.
“He gives a different viewpoint — a different voice…to the Democratic Party. He understands, coming from the General Assembly, the issues, especially in education. That is an issue that America is not doing well with as compared to other nations — the quality of education we’re giving to our children. He looks at it completely different than others,†the mayor said.
But Daley warned that once Obama takes the official plunge, the star treatment he has received in the national media will end and the scrutiny will begin.
“No one has a honeymoon. You think you have a honeymoon, [but] no one has a honeymoon. He understands that,†the mayor said.
*** UPDATE 19 *** More from Fritchey, via e-mail, after I asked what else was discussed during the conference call:
(T)here was nothing else really other than that he would be traveling extensively around the state. More of a feel good, stay connected type thing.
*** UPDATE 20 *** Another friend who participated in this morning’s conference call said Obama gave participants phone numbers to four campaign headquarters in New Hampshire, Iowa, DC and Chicago. He said, according to the friend, that his campaign “will begin in Illinois and end in Illinois.”
*** UPDATE 21 *** Chris Bowers at MyDD totals up the number of news media mentions (via Google News) of the various Democratic candidates during the past month.
Barack Obama: 9,710
Joseph Biden: 6,475
John Edwards: 5,944
Hillary Clinton: 5,226
Chris Dodd: 3,218
Bill Richardson: 3,100
Tom Vilsack: 2,753
Dennis Kucinich: 1,862
Wesley Clark: 497
Mike Gravel: 22
*** UPDATE 22 *** I asked for a quickie quote from Governor Blagojevich’s office. Here it is: “The Governor is excited, hopes to help Sen. Obama in any way he can.”
Apparently, Barack Obama’s people got the message. Embattled Harvey Mayor Eric Kellog was supposed to introduce Obama at a major Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event, but after it was pointed out that having Kellogg around might not do his image any good and might boost Kellogg’s reelection, the mayor was moved into the cheap seats.
Harvey Mayor Eric Kellogg sat in the audience while Obama spoke, keeping a respectful distance.
Obama, never mentioning the mayor specifically, said politicians in office for personal gain fail to adhere to King’s message.
“There are a lot things Harvey needs,” Obama said. “Some folks here in city hall think that maybe the office that they possess is because they are so special, it is supposed to be a place where they can help their family and their friends instead of helping the people who elected them.
“We don’t need that kind of leadership,” he warned. “You want to make a lot of money, go start a business. Don’t run for office.”
In the past year, the Daily Southtown has published several dozen stories that call into question Kellogg’s management of city finances and his appointments to the police department.
[Emphasis added.]
Meanwhile, my syndicated newspaper column this week was about Michael Madigan and Obama, and the Speaker’s recent attempts to make nice.
You’d think that Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, who is forever being touted as one of the smartest politicians in Illinois history, would have realized long ago that Barack Obama was immensely popular and needed to be treated differently than others.
[Comments are now closed on this post. Let’s move to a fresh thread.]
