Obama says he may run for president

 

Obama says he may run for president 

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Seattle Times | WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., opened the door to a 2008 presidential campaign Sunday, saying he has begun to weigh a possible candidacy and will make a decision after the November elections. | "Given the responses that I've been getting over the last several months, I have thought ...  

 

Obama says he may run for president

By Dan Balz

The Washington Post

Sen. Barack Obama will promote his book Thursday in Seattle at Benaroya Hall WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., opened the door to a 2008 presidential campaign Sunday, saying he has begun to weigh a possible candidacy and will make a decision after the November elections.

"Given the responses that I've been getting over the last several months, I have thought about the possibility, but I have not thought about it with the seriousness and depth that I think is required," Obama said on NBC's "Meet The Press." "After November 7th, I'll sit down and consider it, and if at some point, I change my mind, I will make a public announcement and everybody will be able to go at me."

Until Sunday, Obama — one of the brightest stars in the party since electrifying the 2004 Democratic National Convention with his keynote address — had said he planned to serve out the full six years of his Senate term, which would have ruled out a presidential or vice-presidential campaign in 2008.

But Democrats around the country have encouraged him to consider a campaign, and there has been fevered speculation inside the party about the possibility that he will do so. His advisers have been forced to adjust timetables for a possible run in later elections and have begun to do the research that will help Obama make his decision.

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is considered the early front-runner for the Democratic nomination, should she decide to run, but some Democratic strategists said Sunday that Obama immediately would become one of her principal challengers.

"If he runs and Mrs. Clinton runs, I don't think there's a lot of room for anyone else," said Steve Elmendorf, who was a top adviser to former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo. "The two of them take up an enormous amount of political space."

Party strategists said that if voters are looking for change in 2008, Obama would symbolize that better than many of the other possible candidates. But having served just two years in the Senate and seven in the Illinois state Senate, Obama has a thin resume upon which to build a presidential candidacy. He was asked Sunday whether he was ready to be president.

"I'm not sure anybody is ready to be president before they're president," he told moderator Tim Russert. "You know, ultimately, I trust the judgment of the American people that in any election they sort it through. We have a long and a rigorous process and, you know, should I decide to run, if I ever did decide to run, I'm confident that I'd be run through the paces pretty good."

Obama, 45, was elected to the Senate in 2004 and even before winning became a nationally recognized politician with his keynote address in Boston. He is one of the party's most sought-after speakers and has drawn sizable crowds at party events and at appearances in behalf of other Democratic candidates.

He now is on a nationwide tour promoting his new book, "The Audacity of Hope," and will appear Thursday in Seattle at Benaroya Hall.

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