Top News

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Sen. Barack Obama's announcement that he is taking steps in a run for the White House has gotten people talking – and pouring in campaign contributions.

Political friends and strategists say they have never seen so much excitement over a grassroots candidate.

Obama made the announcement in a video on his Web site, barackobama.com.

"Even in the midst of the enormous challenges we face today, I have great faith and hope about the future, because I believe in you," Obama said, "and that's why I want to tell you first that I'll be filing papers today to create a presidential exploratory committee."

Some commuters at the Damen Avenue Blue Line stop in the Wicker Park neighborhood seemed to be calling for Obama's leadership.

"He's wonderful," said commuter Angie Wilkerson. "I mean, he just deals with all the issues for all the people. I just haven't followed it that much, but he's very appealing to me."

"He's what the people need now, because we don't have any hope right now, and we need some hope and he stands for hope," added commuter Flora Ruby. "I think that would be the best thing that would happen for us, I really do."

"He has a positive attitude about just everything," Ruby added. "I think he's great, I love him."

"He's a great guy, and charismatic, and they'll dig in on him and you know, we'll see what they find," said commuter Bruce Marcus, "but for now he seems like a viable candidate."

"He seems really insightful; really in touch with people," added commuter Anna Liljas. "I think it would be great."

Obama's political supporters say they have been hearing similar sentiments across the nation.

Further, within minutes after Obama's message, recorded last Saturday, began airing on the Internet, sources said Obama's Web site took in more than $100,000 in campaign contributions.

"I've never seen an outpouring of interest in a candidacy like this before; (it's) the closest thing to a political draft that I've seen in my lifetime," said Obama adviser David Axelrod.

State Senate President Emil Jones was a mentor before and during Obama's eight years as a state senator. That's where Obama first worked on some issues he plans to campaign on for the White House: alternative energy, universal access to health care, and aid to public schools and college students.

"He's going to be President. I've been looking forward to this day. He has all the tools to be president of this country," Jones said of Obama.

A man Obama defeated two years ago in his bid for the U.S. Senate, Dan Hynes, last year was among the first public figures to urge Obama to run for president. He was on a conference call with Obama Tuesday that got down to campaign details.

"He wanted us all to go to our Rolodexes and start thinking about people we knew in Iowa and New Hampshire and other states, start contacting them, get them involved," Hynes said.

"We need somebody who can unite us, who can bring us together and unite us, and Barack does that," Hynes added.

Obama has consistently drawn adoring crowds, even among the studious voters in New Hampshire during a much-hyped visit there last month. His star has risen on the force of his personality and message of hope -- helped along by celebrity endorsements from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, billionaire investor Warren Buffett and actors Matt Damon and Edward Norton.


Obama's Message
In his announcement, Obama outlined the challenges faced by the country and criticized the current administration.

"As I've spoken to many of you in my travels across the states these past months, 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 said. "So I spent some time thinking about how I could best advance the cause of change and progress that we so desperately need."

Obama tried to turn his biggest weakness—his lack of experience in national politics—into an asset.

"The decisions that have been made in Washington these past six years, and the problems that have been ignored, have put our country in a precarious place," he said.

"America's faced big problems before," he said. "But today, our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, commonsense way. Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions."

He said Americans are struggling financially, dependence on foreign oil threatens the environment and national security and "we're still mired in a tragic and costly war that should have never been waged."

Obama said a decision on his presidential plans is coming Feb. 10.

"In the next several weeks, I'm going to talk with people from around the country, listening and learning more about the challenges that we face as a nation, the opportunities that lie before us, and the role that a presidential campaign might play in bringing our country together," Obama said, "and on February 10, at the end of these discussions, in my home state of Illinois, I will share my friends with my friends, neighbors and fellow Americans."

The event to which Obama refers will likely be at a big rally in Springfield, where he served for eight years in the State Senate, and where one of his role models, Abraham Lincoln, lived and worked.

Insiders said one possible venue is the Old State Capitol Honest Abe helped to build and where in 1858 he delivered his "House Divided" speech that launched his own presidential campaign.

Obama is preparing to raise tens of millions of dollars and to campaign from coast to coast. It is expected to be an exhausting marathon between the present time and the time the first votes are cast in Iowa barely one year from Tuesday.

In Springfield and in two years in the U.S. Senate in Washington Obama has voted as a conventional liberal Democrat: supporting universal access to health care, tax breaks for the poor, abortion rights, gay rights and gun control.

But he's been decidedly unconventional in his willingness to work with even ultra-conservative Republicans on good government issues: including ethics reform, freedom of information and ending wasteful pork barrel spending.

Some Democrats have criticized him for that.

The first-term senator has gained national attention since being sworn in to office in 2005. He has recently made appearances in key primary states and even garnered a paparazzi photo mention in People magazine.

His appeal on the stump, his unique background, his opposition to the Iraq war and the fact that he is a fresh face set him apart in a competitive race that also is expected to include Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Some voter opinion surveys show him and Sen. Clinton to be the Democrats' early front-runners.

In the video statement, Obama was already sounding themes aimed at differentiating himself from Mrs. Clinton—who has long been one of the most polarizing figures in American politics.

"We have to change our politics and come together around our common concerns and interests as Americans. This won't happen by itself -- change in our politics can only come from you," Obama said in the statement.

Obama's decision was relatively low-key after months of hype, with no speech or media appearance to accompany his online announcement. He said he will discuss a presidential campaign with people around the country before his Feb. 10 event, and he wasted no time calling key activists Tuesday.

New Hampshire lobbyist Jim Demers talked with Obama for about five minutes. "He is extremely pumped and excited that this campaign is coming together," said Demers, who accompanied Obama on his visit to the state last month.

Obama has admitted that he has some struggles, including smoking.

He told the Associated Press, "It's one of those habits that creeps up on you when you're stressed, and you have to shake it off."

Other Democrats who have announced a campaign or exploratory committee are 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

Obama, 45, was born in Honolulu where his parents met while studying at the University of Hawaii. His father was black and from Kenya; his mother, white and from Wichita, Kan.

Obama's parents divorced when he was two and his father returned to Kenya. His mother later married an Indonesian student and the family moved to Jakarta. Obama returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his maternal grandparents.

He graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the first black elected editor of the Harvard Law Review. Obama settled in Chicago, where he joined a law firm, helped local churches establish job training programs and met his future wife, Michelle Robinson. They have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

Before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Obama served eight years in the Illinois state senate, and was also a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. He's also written two best-selling autobiographies -- "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" and "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance."

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)