Move jolts Democrats
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| Ap Sen. Barack Obama walks outside Senate Chambers at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007. Obama announced his intentions to file a presidential exploratory committee on his web site, the initial step in a bid that could make him the nation's first black to occupy the White House. The reporter to his left is Christi Parsons with the Chicago Tribune. |
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GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON - Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's decision Tuesday to formally explore a run for president sets the stage for a historic Democratic nomination race dominated by a black man and a first lady-turned-senator.
Obama, 45, said he would spend the next few weeks traveling and listening to voters and would announce his plans Feb. 10 in Illinois. His initial move sent a jolt of electricity through a field that is likely to include New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who is Hispanic. John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee, already is in the race.
Obama "raises the charisma quotient to a new high. He'll really energize the process and probably attract people to the primaries that may not have been involved before," says Doug Hattaway, a Democratic strategist based in Boston.
Hattaway and others said they are excited about the unprecedented diversity of the emerging Democratic field. Gina Glantz, who managed Bill Bradley's 2000 campaign, said it could signal "a glorious transitional moment to leadership that includes all Americans."
In a videotaped statement on his Web site, Obama said he did not expect to be weighing a presidential race. But he said the country is "in a precarious place" as a result of decisions made in Washington over the past six years. Working people are struggling to pay for health care and college tuition, Obama said, and "we're still mired in a tragic and costly war that should have never been waged."
As a state legislator in 2002, Obama opposed the Iraq invasion before it started. A draft-Obama group launched a Web site Tuesday called obamawasright.com.
"It highlights Senator Obama's uniquely consistent position in opposition to the war in Iraq" among the three leading Democratic hopefuls, the group said.
Clinton and former North Carolina senator Edwards voted in 2002 to authorize the war. Edwards calls his vote a mistake and wants Congress to deny money for more troops. Clinton says she would not have voted for the war if she had known then what she knows now.
Clinton returned Monday from visiting U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. A news conference set for Tuesday was delayed until today so Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., could take part. He fell ill in Germany and had to stay there an extra day.
Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson said it was no secret Obama was moving forward. "A good strong field is a good thing," he said.
Asked Tuesday on CNN if Obama is qualified to be president, Edwards said he wouldn't "pass judgment" on other candidates. He added that "we want good people in the race, because we desperately need new leadership in 2009."
Steve Elmendorf, who was deputy campaign manager for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry's 2004 general election campaign, says the problem for Edwards and others is that Clinton and Obama "are going to take up a lot of the fundraising and political oxygen for this race." Still, he says, "the excitement that they get initially will take them only so far."
Ultimately, Elmendorf says, the pair will have to prove themselves to voters in the diners and living rooms of early primary and caucus states.
They'll also participate in debates that he says will have a leveling effect: "When everybody gets on the stage ... they're all equal."
Obama's background sets him apart from the rest of the field. His mother was a white woman from Kansas. His father was a black man from Kenya. In his 1995 book, "Dreams from My Father," he writes about identity struggles and adolescent confusion that led him to use cocaine and other drugs in high school and part of college.
