Pre-announcement
A warmly received keynote address by Obama before the 2004 Democratic National Convention sparked expectations that he would run for the presidency. They intensified after Obama's decisive victory in the race for senator in November 2004, even though he told reporters then that "I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years."
In September 2006, though, Obama was the featured speaker at Iowa Senator Tom Harkin's annual steak fry, a political event traditionally attended by presidential hopefuls in the lead-up to the Iowa caucuses.
And in an October 2006 interview on the television program Meet the Press, the senator seemed to entertain the possibility of a 2008 presidential bid. Illinois Senator Richard Durbin and State Comptroller Daniel Hynes were early advocates for such a run.
Many people in the entertainment community expressed readiness to campaign for an Obama presidency, including celebrity television show host Oprah Winfrey, singer Macy Gray, rap artist Common, and film actors George Clooney, Halle Berry, and Will Smith.
In December 2006, Obama spoke at a New Hampshire event celebrating Democratic Party midterm election victories in the first-in-the-nation U.S. presidential primary state, drawing 1500 people.
Speaking at a Democratic National Committee meeting one week before the February announcement, Obama called for putting an end to negative campaigning. "This can't be about who digs up more skeletons on who, who makes the fewest slip-ups on the campaign trail," he said. "We owe it to the American people to do more than that."
Read more about this topic: Barack Obama Presidential Primary Campaign, 2008