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CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ― U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is off and running after filing documents with the Federal Election Commission this morning to create a Presidential Campaign exploratory committee.

As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, Obama adds that next month -- in Illinois -- he'll be making an announcement.

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."

In the 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."

Obama is expected formally to launch his Presidential campaign next month, likely 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.

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./the closest thing to a political draft that I've seen in my lifetime," said Obama adviser David Axelrod said.

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.

"Hillary Clinton's a friend who he respects and admires. And he's not running to tear anybody down, if he runs. He's running to lift this country up," Axelrod said.

State Senate President Emil Jones was a mentor before and during Obama's eight years in the General Assembly. 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 gonna 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, 45, grew up in Hawaii, and was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Obama served in the Illinois state senate, and was also a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.

Obama is expected to make a series of announcements soon about key campaign staff, and about the all-important fundraising. He is in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

Some estimates say the race for President for both parties will cost $100 million.

Hynes suggested that busloads of Illinoisans might soon be headed to Iowa to do campaign work for Obama.

The Iowa caucuses are not that far away – Monday, January 14, 2008.

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