Obama Forms Committee to Weigh 2008 Presidential Bid (Update1)
By Jay Newton-Small
Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat who rose to prominence with his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and has become one of the party's most sought-after speakers, said he's exploring a presidential bid.
``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 in a statement on his Web site.
Obama, 45, the only black in the U.S. Senate, said he will reveal his decision whether to run Feb. 10 in Illinois. Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, who hasn't announced her plans, are the favored potential presidential candidates among Democrats in polls of party voters.
``Whether he would succeed depends in part on the size of the field,'' said Thomas Patterson, a government professor at Harvard University. ``Hillary Clinton has a core constituency and would benefit from a large field of contenders, assuming they divide the remaining vote.''
Born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961, to Ann Dunham of Kansas and Barack Obama Sr., a Kenyan academic, Obama mostly grew up in Hawaii attending the elite day school Punahou before earning a bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1983 and a law degree from Harvard.
Moved to Chicago
In 1985, Obama moved to the south side of Chicago to work for a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods. He left to go to Harvard Law School in the late 80's.
In 1991, Obama became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, he spent a brief time on Wall Street where, he wrote in his autobiography, ``Dreams of My Father,'' he dabbled with cocaine.
Obama returned to the Southside of Chicago where he turned a job as a civil rights attorney into a run for public office, serving in the Illinois State Senate for seven years.
``Years ago, as a community organizer in Chicago, I learned that meaningful change always begins at the grassroots and that engaged citizens working together can accomplish extraordinary things,'' Obama said in his statement today.
During a 1989 internship at a corporate law firm he met Michelle Robinson, who was his adviser for the summer. In 1992, he married Robinson with whom he has two daughters. Michelle Robinson Obama works for the University of Chicago Hospitals as vice president for Community and External Affairs.
First Race Unsuccessful
In 2000, Barack Obama unsuccessfully challenged Representative Bobby Rush for his congressional seat, only garnering 30 percent of the vote to Rush's 60 percent in the Illinois Democratic primary.
In the state Senate, Obama helped to pass the Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided more than $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state, according to his Web site. He also sponsored legislation that required police interrogations to be video taped in all capital cases and a measure that expanded early childhood education.
In a surprise upset, Obama won the 2004 Democratic nomination to replace retiring U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald, an Illinois Republican. Obama's candidacy benefitted when his Republican opponent dropped out after accusations surfaced that he pressured his ex-wife to frequent sex clubs. Obama defeated the replacement Republican, Alan Keyes of Maryland, winning 70 percent of the vote.
Democratic Fundraiser
Obama has used his celebrity to become a prolific fundraiser since his arrival in Washington. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took notice, appointing Obama Midwest vice chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which helps elect Democratic senators. Last year, Obama gave more than $700,000 from his own political action committee to Democratic candidates and state and national parties.
In the Senate, he has championed ethics reform and legislation to limit the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. He sits on the Foreign Relations, the Health, Educational, Labor and Pensions, the Homeland Security and the Veteran's Affairs Committees.
Opposes Iraq War
He opposes the Iraq war but didn't have to cast a vote for or against it four years ago because he wasn't in the Senate then. Obama opposes gay marriage and supports work requirements for welfare.
Barack in Swahili means ``blessed by God.'' In his second book, ``The Audacity of Hope,'' a title coined from his 2004 Democratic convention speech, Obama wrote about how he was told by one Democratic activist the week after Sept. 11 that his middle name, Hussein, would be a political liability.
Obama earned an advance of $1.9 million for the second book. Books were best sellers, and the second one is now No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list.
``I certainly didn't expect to find myself in this position a year ago,'' Obama said in his statement today. ``But as I've spoken to many of you in my travels across the states these past months; as I've read your e-mails and read your letters; I've been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics.''
He is the sixth Democrat to announce a presidential bid or form an exploratory committee, following Senators Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Joe Biden of Delaware, former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004, former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.
Democrats ``have a pretty deep bench if either Obama or Hillary slip on a banana,'' said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jay Newton-Small in Washington at
[email protected]
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