Obama Forms Presidential Exploratory Committee
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois on Tuesday announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee, an initial and informal step toward becoming a presidential candidate.
Obama, who is two years into his first term in the U.S. Senate, told supporters in a statement and Webcast that he intended to make his final decision of whether to throw his hat in the ring for the 2008 presidential race on Feb. 10 after a “listening tour” to meet with voters.
“Running for the presidency is a profound decision — a decision no one should make on the basis of media hype or personal ambition alone — and so before I committed myself and my family to this race, I wanted to be sure that this was right for us and, more importantly, right for the country,” Obama said.
Like Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the media long has speculated about the possibility of Obama entering the presidential race. The senator was virtually unknown before the 2004 election cycle, when first drew national attention with a keynote address at Democratic National Convention. Then just 42 years old with two terms in the state Senate under his belt, Obama was facing a longshot bid for the Senate seat that was pushed in his favor after the initial Republican candidate, Jack Ryan, was taken down in a sex scandal and replaced by Alan L. Keyes, a social conservative widely seen as too far right for the state’s electorate.
Obama won the 2004 Senate race with 70 percent of the vote and emerged from the election cycle with media buzz seldom generated for a freshman senator. When he took office in 2005, Obama was the Senate’s only African-American member and the third black senator since Reconstruction.
Although speculation about a presidential run has dogged the senator, Obama has kept a low profile in the Senate, focusing on legislation and making his way as a first-term senator.
In one step potentially indicating larger ambition, Obama released a book titled “The Audacity of Hope,” a phrase he had used during his address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. In the book he outlines his critique of the current political system and his vision for the future. His first book, the autobiography “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance,” was published in 1996 and re-released after his convention speech.
Five other candidates already have announced they will run for the Democratic nomination: Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, 2004 vice presidential candidate and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel.
Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. has publicly announced he plans to file with the Federal Election Commission later this month to establish a committee.
Establishing a presidential exploratory committee is only a preliminary step toward becoming an official candidate and Obama said Tuesday his final decision would be announced Feb. 10 in his home state.
In the interim, Obama said he intended to meet with voters, “listening and learning more about the challenges we face as a nation, the opportunities that lie before us, and the role that a presidential campaign might play in bringing our country together.”
By CQ Staff
Published: January 16, 2007
© 2006 Congressional Quarterly
Obama, who is two years into his first term in the U.S. Senate, told supporters in a statement and Webcast that he intended to make his final decision of whether to throw his hat in the ring for the 2008 presidential race on Feb. 10 after a “listening tour” to meet with voters.
“Running for the presidency is a profound decision — a decision no one should make on the basis of media hype or personal ambition alone — and so before I committed myself and my family to this race, I wanted to be sure that this was right for us and, more importantly, right for the country,” Obama said.
Like Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, the media long has speculated about the possibility of Obama entering the presidential race. The senator was virtually unknown before the 2004 election cycle, when first drew national attention with a keynote address at Democratic National Convention. Then just 42 years old with two terms in the state Senate under his belt, Obama was facing a longshot bid for the Senate seat that was pushed in his favor after the initial Republican candidate, Jack Ryan, was taken down in a sex scandal and replaced by Alan L. Keyes, a social conservative widely seen as too far right for the state’s electorate.
Obama won the 2004 Senate race with 70 percent of the vote and emerged from the election cycle with media buzz seldom generated for a freshman senator. When he took office in 2005, Obama was the Senate’s only African-American member and the third black senator since Reconstruction.
Although speculation about a presidential run has dogged the senator, Obama has kept a low profile in the Senate, focusing on legislation and making his way as a first-term senator.
In one step potentially indicating larger ambition, Obama released a book titled “The Audacity of Hope,” a phrase he had used during his address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. In the book he outlines his critique of the current political system and his vision for the future. His first book, the autobiography “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance,” was published in 1996 and re-released after his convention speech.
Five other candidates already have announced they will run for the Democratic nomination: Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, 2004 vice presidential candidate and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel.
Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. has publicly announced he plans to file with the Federal Election Commission later this month to establish a committee.
Establishing a presidential exploratory committee is only a preliminary step toward becoming an official candidate and Obama said Tuesday his final decision would be announced Feb. 10 in his home state.
In the interim, Obama said he intended to meet with voters, “listening and learning more about the challenges we face as a nation, the opportunities that lie before us, and the role that a presidential campaign might play in bringing our country together.”
By CQ Staff
Published: January 16, 2007
© 2006 Congressional Quarterly
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