10.23.2006
Obama Admits He's Thinking '08 (LATimes.com)
The Illinois senator had vowed to serve his full term, but the support he sees encourages him to run for president.
By Chuck Neubauer, Times Staff Writer
October 23, 2006
WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said Sunday that he was considering a run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, backing away from previous pledges to serve out his full six-year Senate term.
Obama, 45, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that he would not make any decision before the Nov. 7 midterm election.
"I am still at the point where I have not made a decision to — to pursue higher office," he said, "but it is true that I have thought about it over the last several months."
In 2004, as a candidate for the Senate, Obama entered the national spotlight as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention. He won the Senate seat that November with 70% of the vote.
Twice before on "Meet the Press" — soon after that election and again this past January — Obama stated flatly that he would serve his full Senate term. On Sunday, he attributed his possible change of heart to "the responses that I've been getting over the last several months" while campaigning for Democratic candidates across the country.
"He is the most in-demand speaker in the Democratic Party," said David Axelrod, a Chicago-based media consultant who advised Obama's Senate campaign. "He gets 300 invitations a week."
(More ... Los Angeles Times > News > Politics > Obama admits he's thinking '08)
By Chuck Neubauer, Times Staff Writer
October 23, 2006
WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said Sunday that he was considering a run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, backing away from previous pledges to serve out his full six-year Senate term.
Obama, 45, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that he would not make any decision before the Nov. 7 midterm election.
"I am still at the point where I have not made a decision to — to pursue higher office," he said, "but it is true that I have thought about it over the last several months."
In 2004, as a candidate for the Senate, Obama entered the national spotlight as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention. He won the Senate seat that November with 70% of the vote.
Twice before on "Meet the Press" — soon after that election and again this past January — Obama stated flatly that he would serve his full Senate term. On Sunday, he attributed his possible change of heart to "the responses that I've been getting over the last several months" while campaigning for Democratic candidates across the country.
"He is the most in-demand speaker in the Democratic Party," said David Axelrod, a Chicago-based media consultant who advised Obama's Senate campaign. "He gets 300 invitations a week."
(More ... Los Angeles Times > News > Politics > Obama admits he's thinking '08)
Labels: 2008 election, LATimes, Obama
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