Barack Obama In For The Big Race In 08

Obama Declares His Candidacy

Standing in freezing weather outside the historic capitol building, just steps away from where Abraham Lincoln used to practice law, another lanky Illinoisan will stand and declare his candidacy for President of the United States on Saturday morning.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., 45, spent eight years here, representing the fabled South Side of Chicago. In addition to the invocations of Lincoln's legacy of trying to unite a bifurcated nation, Obama's allies are reminding voters that Lincoln's eight years in the state legislature and one term in the U.S. House of Representative compare rather precisely with Obama's legislative experience.

Obama's kickoff is steeped in symbolism

The last time Barack Obama delivered a formal address in Illinois' state capital, it was to mark the opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum where he hailed the 16th president as a man who "did not equivocate or duck or pass the challenge on to future generations."

Nearly two years after that address, and using the home of Lincoln's famed "house divided" speech as a backdrop, Obama was expected Saturday to make formal his historic entry into the 2008 presidential campaign, presenting himself as a symbol for a new generation of leadership and politics.


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