U.S. Senator Obama announces presidential candidacy

February 10, 2007 Junior Illinois Senator Barack Obama officially announced his presidential candidacy, today, in Springfield, Illinois. Obama's speech was given from the same spot that Abraham Lincoln gave his "House divided" speech over 125 years ago and from the place where Obama began his elected career 10 years ago.

Obama is the second major Democrat to announce his candidacy, after New York Senator Hillary Clinton. If elected, Obama would be the first African American president of the United States.

Obama placed topics such as healthcare reform, ending poverty, re-building labor unions, energy independence, repairing the US's global image, and the Iraq War in the context of generational change. Obama spoke against keeping troops in Iraq, saying that "all of this cannot come to pass until we bring an end to this war in Iraq [...] America, it's time to start bringing our troops home. It's time to admit that no amount of American lives can resolve the political disagreement that lies at the heart of someone else's civil war."

The announcement kicks off a weekend of rallies and events that will take Obama from Springfield to Iowa and then on to Chicago before he wraps up Monday in New Hampshire.

Obama broke onto the national scene with his popular speech at the Democratic National Convention. Born in Hawaii, Obama graduated from Columbia University before receiving his JD from Harvard Law School. In 1996, Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate, before rising to his current position in the US Senate in 2004.